The BlockHead Owner’s Manual
11
People have a natural tendency to listen to music on headphones at much louder
levels than they would on speakers. If you hope to avoid permanent hearing dam-
age, it’s important to be careful not to listen at extremely loud levels or to listen for
too long at moderately loud levels. Because HeadRoom amps must be capable of
driving even the most inefficient dynamic headphones to satisfactory listening lev-
els, the amps are able to drive headphones of average and high efficiencies to
very
high levels. As a result, you may not be listening at a safe level even though the
volume control on the amp is less than half way up. Generally speaking, when
listening to headphones, you should only turn up the volume to the point at which the
sound isn’t too quiet.
The most common hearing damage caused by prolonged or excessively loud sound
is called tinnitus. It manifests itself as a sustained ringing in the ears and can
become a permanent condition. If you find that your ears are ringing or that there is
a sensation of pressure or fatigue, give them a rest for a couple of days (or until
they feel fresh). These symptoms are your body telling you that your ears need a
break. Should you choose to ignore these symptoms, you are risking permanent
hearing damage. As a general rule, sound pressure levels under 80 decibels will not
damage hearing, even if listened to continually. On the other hand, anything over
100 decibels may cause permanent damage fast. Sound pressure levels anywhere
in between can also be damaging. The louder the sound, the shorter the exposure
time required to cause permanent damage.
Now, don’t fool yourself into thinking that you either have full-blown tinnitus or you
don’t have it at all—you can get a slight case. For example, you might only notice
your ears ringing in bed at night. Once you have a slight case of tinnitus, your ears
are much more susceptible to further damage. So, if you get tinnitus, it’s important to
be much more careful about exposure to loud sounds. Now that we’ve told you to be
careful, don’t blame us if you blow it. If you have any more questions about hearing
damage, call a doctor. Sorry to sound so sobering, but a lifetime of musical enjoy-
ment requires ears in tiptop shape.
And Now A Word About Your Hearing
