piercing beats: can they cause damage?

[audixix]

I was listening to this track (see below) on repeat for about 20 minutes and noticed my ears were hurting afterwards. I wasn't listening at particularly high volumes; the unEQ-ed headphone is around 3db above harman in the 5000-7000Hz range. It is clearly the higher frequencies, not the bass, that causes the piercing feeling of the beats. I was also generally wondering if there's an issue with music that sounds rather silent, but has aggressive meats, causing listeners to dial up the volume to here "the music", exposing themselves to piercing, loud beats. I.e. I was wondering how exactly save hearing can be practiced, when certain frequencies "stick out" as very loud and damage those specific areas in the ear that can be damanged by these frequencies. (I was also wondering if there is enough time for the ear to recuperate inbetween beats. For example, if you're listening to music with continuous X dB, you're supposed to pause after Y minutes for Z minutes. But when beats are loud and piercing at K dB, and last P milliseconds, and Q ms pause inbetween, what does this entail exactly?).
I'm generally interested in the real-life dangers of certain frequencies: Which are the frequencies most likely to cause hearing loss? For example, because one perceives certain frequencies as pleasant still when they are quite loud relative to the rest, of because one perceives them not at all and thus does not react by lowering the volume, or because they are inherently more damaging etc. -- I'm asking because when messing with EQ, I'd like to avoid bossting frequencies that are not a good choice to boost.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Galliardist]

I was listening to this track (see below) on repeat for about 20 minutes and noticed my ears were hurting afterwards. I wasn't listening at particularly high volumes; the unEQ-ed headphone is around 3db above harman in the 5000-7000Hz range. It is clearly the higher frequencies, not the bass, that causes the piercing feeling of the beats. I was also generally wondering if there's an issue with music that sounds rather silent, but has aggressive meats, causing listeners to dial up the volume to here "the music", exposing themselves to piercing, loud beats. I.e. I was wondering how exactly save hearing can be practiced, when certain frequencies "stick out" as very loud and damage those specific areas in the ear that can be damanged by these frequencies. (I was also wondering if there is enough time for the ear to recuperate inbetween beats. For example, if you're listening to music with continuous X dB, you're supposed to pause after Y minutes for Z minutes. But when beats are loud and piercing at K dB, and last P milliseconds, and Q ms pause inbetween, what does this entail exactly?).
I'm generally interested in the real-life dangers of certain frequencies: Which are the frequencies most likely to cause hearing loss? For example, because one perceives certain frequencies as pleasant still when they are quite loud relative to the rest, of because one perceives them not at all and thus does not react by lowering the volume, or because they are inherently more damaging etc. -- I'm asking because when messing with EQ, I'd like to avoid bossting frequencies that are not a good choice to boost.

Thanks for reading!

There's nothing there that seems alarming when I listen at reasonable volume with headphones using an approximation to Harman EQ. In fact, using EQ will help with the risk of hearing damage because frequencies will be perceived as the equivalent to even sound from speakers. The danger is only there if your headphones will distort when EQ'd, and that is more likely to happen in the bass than anywhere else.

Danger comes more from sound pressure than from it being at any particular frequency, and if you are turning up the volume to hear some part of the frequency range, that is more dangerous than sensible EQ.

You need first a headphone that you can wear, then one that is close to Harman or can be brought to it without distortion. Your preference may be for more or less bass than Harman, so allow for higher levels of undistorted bass and EQ there to taste. Many people like lower bass, so don't worry if you find that.

I don't think I could take that track for 20 minutes on repeat though Are you sure you don't really have a headache?

 

[audixix]

Thank you very much.

OT:

I had it running in order to do tests with my EQ profiles, and then got lost reading on ASR, "forgetting" to pause it haha. After 20 minutes I got so annoyed by the music I can barely continue the listening tests haha.
Some music sounds so-so on first listen, and then better and better the longer you listen, and some sounds okay on first listen, but after repeat listen drives you crazy to the point of true aversion. It's an interesting effect psychologically.

 

[JSmith]

Danger comes more from sound pressure than from it being at any particular frequency

Yep, high SPL over extended periods, or cumulative short periods, i.e. long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 dBA.

Interestingly, noise induced hearing loss does start to show itself at particular frequency bands of hearing however;

Loss is always greater at the frequencies 3000-6000 Hz than at 500-2000 Hz. Loss is usually greatest at 4000 Hz. The 4000-Hz notch is often preserved even in advanced stages.

In stable exposure conditions, losses at 3000, 4000, and 6000 Hz usually reach a maximum level in 10-15 years.

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/857813-clinical?form=fpf

JSmith

 

[evalrat]

Yep, high SPL over extended periods, or cumulative short periods, i.e. long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 dBA.

Interestingly, noise induced hearing loss does start to show itself at particular frequency bands of hearing however;

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/857813-clinical?form=fpf

JSmith

This is why, here in Holland audiologist not long ago issued a plea to reduce the sound levels at pop concerts. The explicitly targeted current high bass levels. These don't damage hearing in the generic sense, but are causing serious damage in the 2k - 4k region that are crucial to the ability to the legibility of speech putting a person in an invalidating isolation.