Weird breathing noise in my ear

[The Crystal King]

I had been doing some EQ on my guitar mix recently, and at one point accidentally started playing a track that was a much higher volume than the others. The frequency was quite high and harsh, and quite a shock to the ears (I reached for the volume knob as soon as I could). Then the night after it, I noticed a noise in one of my ears almost like breathing! Very strange.. it wasn't really annoying or anything, and I could only hear it when in absolute silence. I stopped myself breathing to see if the noise would stop, but it just continued on at a slightly faster rate than normal breath. Almost sounded like somone was breathing right beside me...

After searching a little online, I think it coud be a mild form of tinnitus, and will hopefully pass away. Based on my searches online, seems the main people who have experienced such symptoms are ravers and clubbers!

I've also noticed a slight soreness in the ear, so I've decided to give the ears a rest for the weekend (I'd been mixing and EQing every night of the week, 3 or 4 hours or so each night). I should also note that yup... I'm a headphones user (sony 7509HD)! How else would I be able to stay up till the wee hours mixing (I have to work a "regular" job during the day, so it's the only way I can do it. I wish I could use monitors but it would drive everyone crazy I think, and my housemate works at 6am).

Just really wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this, and did it go away? Will the hearing be damaged. if anything, I feel like my ears are even more sensitive now, especially when in a noisy environment like a pub... ouch, all those harsh frequencies...

Gotta mind the ears... especially when dealing with highly distorted and dangerous guitars!!

 

[Notuern]

You probably overloaded your ears(Sorry, cant remember the right word! ), or got your self Tinnitus.
I hope you overloaded your ears, becuase that goes away after a few days.

Ive had the same experience several times, and the first 3 times it went away.
The 4th time was about 2 years ago, and I still have a dentist drill in my head(Although its not that loud.).

 

[Rupturemetal]

you are officially haunted

 

[Jackal_Strain]

It's a little early to say if toy've got Tinnitus or not. If the noise goes away after a while, consider yourself warned and be more careful in the future. If it doesn't go away in, say a month or more, you should go see an audiologist.

 

[drew_drummer]

How loud are you monitoring?!?!

 

[_Brutalism_]

Hey man, this happened to me also but all I was doing was silently eating a fucking yoghurt. It went after a while but I was panicking like crazy. I suggest asking a doctor what the problem is.

 

[Notuern]

Hey man, this happened to me also but all I was doing was silently eating a fucking yoghurt. It went after a while but I was panicking like crazy. I suggest asking a doctor what the problem is.

When I went to the doctor after this, they said the only way to be sure is to wait for a few weeks to see if it goes away, if not, then you have tinnitus.

 

[hsinn3r]

go see a doctor man, and stop using headphones for so many hours a day, you'll kill your ears in now time! buy yourself some monitors, it will help you get better mixes anyway

 

[Jackal_Strain]

go see a doctor man, and stop using headphones for so many hours a day, you'll kill your ears in now time! buy yourself some monitors, it will help you get better mixes anyway

Using headphones for extended periods will NOT "kill" you ears. It may be fatiguing, but unless they're blasting at extreme volume hearing loss will not occur.

 

[Notuern]

Using headphones for extended periods will NOT "kill" you ears. It may be fatiguing, but unless they're blasting at extreme volume hearing loss will not occur.

Not hearing loss, but the heat and moist that you get from having your ear closed in by the headphones may cause an irritation in your ear passage.
An irritation in your ear passage is treated by hydrocortisone salve, that makes it impossible to mix(Because you have the salve in your ears.).
Hydrocortisone also makes your eardrum thinner under treatment, which makes it more prone to damage.

 

[aberration]

If you're hearing breathing in your ear and feeling boobs on your shoulder at the same time, things are fine.

Seriously though, let us know what the outcome is, we're all rooting for you.

 

[hsinn3r]

Using headphones for extended periods will NOT "kill" you ears. It may be fatiguing, but unless they're blasting at extreme volume hearing loss will not occur.

Well it definitely won't kill them in "now time" (stupid typos ), but it is rather unhealthy in every way, as described above

Anyway, hope you get well soon!

 

[The Crystal King]

Thanks for the info guys...

After a little more searching on this forum, it seems about 95% of people here have experienced tinnitus of one form or another!

Well, thankfully the noise reduced a little more each night, and now it seems to be gone.

My ears do seem a little more sensitive to sounds though, and different frequencies (maybe this is a side effect of doing a lot of mixing). I wore foam earplugs this weekend when in noisy places, e.g. when out at my friends birthday night, to give my ears a rest for the weekend.

As for overdoing it... well, I listen to music in work through headphones for a lot of the day! Then I go home, and do my recording and mixing on headphones - so yeah, that's a lot of hours per day on headphones (the phones in work are just old MDR-V150, not proper monitor phones).

But I can assure you, I mix/record/eq at as low a volume as possible - if it was any lower I honestly wouldn't be able to hear it very well! I also listen to music in work at a very low volume. I think it's pointless listening at loud volumes, although some of my friends do it (can hear their headphones coming a mile away hehe). So with that in mind, you can understand why I didn't think I'd be doing much damage using the phones so much.

I also take breaks when I'm using the headphones, and most nights only spend 2 to 3 hours on them in total.

I will take your advice and go a little easier on them for a while though... most of the drum stuff for instance I will do through the basic speakers.

Unfortunately, using proper monitors isn't an option as we have kids on one side next door who go to sleep early, and housemate goes to sleep at 10 or so - just when I'm getting going....