Can low frequency bass at high decibel damage your hearing?

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jtvang125

Diamond Member
Nov 10, 2004
5,399
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Suppose you have a couple of subwoofers filter with only 80hz and below. You feed these subs with enough power to achieve around 140dB in a pretty confined space such as the interior of a car. With constant exposure to this sound, say 1-2 hours a day, will it eventually damage your hearing?

I remember reading in a car audio magazine that exposure to just bass at high levels does not hurt your hearing.
 
E

Excelsior

Lifer
May 30, 2002
19,047
18
81
Yes.

There still hasn't been much research on the effects of infrasonic sound at high levels though. (<20Hz)
 
S

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Yes, of course.

And think about the source of your information - a magazine that wants you to buy more powerful louder stuff.

Ya think they're going to publish anything that conflicts with that goal? Nope.
 
T

tweakmm

Lifer
May 28, 2001
18,436
4
0
Nope.

Bump away.

What did you say?


But seriously, what magazine did you read that said that?
 
M

Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,513
16
81
Anything over 70 dB is considered potentially damaging to hearing, and ear protection would normally required if this was a work environment. Compared to modern sound systems, this is surprisingly low - e.g. it's a requirement that recording engineers for the film industry wear ear protection when at test screenings (because the gun-shot/explosion effects, etc. go over the safe limit).

Having said that, the majority of the evidence is based on industrial noise (most of which falls outside the deep bass range that your sub would be producing). So, it's not so much that bass is known to be safe, but that it's not been clearly proven to be dangerous.
 
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thomsbrain

Lifer
Dec 4, 2001
18,148
1
0
it will definetely damage your hearing. a good easy way to check is to turn your radio as low as you can while still being able to hear it, note the setting, then after you've been listening for a typical length of time at your typical volume, put it back at that low setting. if you can't hear it, you just damaged your hearing. after a few hours of quiet, you will probably be able to hear that setting again, but over time, you'll recover less and less, any time your ears have taken such a pummeling that they need recovering, you're doing permanant damage.
 
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imported_Imp

Diamond Member
Dec 20, 2005
9,148
0
0
Originally posted by: thomsbrain
it will definetely damage your hearing. a good easy way to check is to turn your radio as low as you can while still being able to hear it, note the setting, then after you've been listening for a typical length of time at your typical volume, put it back at that low setting. if you can't hear it, you just damaged your hearing. after a few hours of quiet, you will probably be able to hear that setting again, but over time, you'll recover less and less, any time your ears have taken such a pummeling that they need recovering, you're doing permanant damage.
Click to expand...

That's disconcerting. Guess that time it took weeks to recover after a concert, not so much hearing, but bloatedness of ears, will be haunting me.
 
IGBT

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
17,965
140
106
..no surprise. near sub-sonic competion mobile audio is a health /driving hazard. If you can hear it outside the vehicle it's too loud.
 
BW86

BW86

Lifer
Jul 20, 2004
13,114
30
91
Originally posted by: IGBT
..no surprise. near sub-sonic competion mobile audio is a health /driving hazard. If you can hear it outside the vehicle it's too loud.
Click to expand...

with the windows down or up?
 
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phantom309

Platinum Member
Jan 30, 2002
2,065
1
0
I'm pretty sure just bass at those levels won't damage your hearing much - at those frequencies you feel the notes more than you hear them - but are you really just listening to your subs all the time? Why would you want to do that?

I can tell you that if your mids and highs are even audible over 140db of bass, they will damage your hearing. If you get out and your ears are ringing, STOP.
 
E

Excelsior

Lifer
May 30, 2002
19,047
18
81
Originally posted by: phantom309
I'm pretty sure just bass at those levels won't damage your hearing much - at those frequencies you feel the notes more than you hear them - but are you really just listening to your subs all the time? Why would you want to do that?

I can tell you that if your mids and highs are even audible over 140db of bass, they will damage your hearing. If you get out and your ears are ringing, STOP.
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At 20-40Hz, you are hearing them.

It is below 20Hz that you begin to feel the sound rather than hear it.
 
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Banzai042

Senior member
Jul 25, 2005
489
0
0
The only danger would be some hearing damage at those specific frequencies, but no damange at higher frequencies. An example of this is the fact that fighter pilots slowly become deaf at the frequency of noise that the engine(s) make at the most common throttle settings, but have very little other hearing damage caused by their time in the plane.
 
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NanoStuff

Banned
Mar 23, 2006
2,981
1
0
Originally posted by: Banzai042
The only danger would be some hearing damage at those specific frequencies, but no damange at higher frequencies. An example of this is the fact that fighter pilots slowly become deaf at the frequency of noise that the engine(s) make at the most common throttle settings, but have very little other hearing damage caused by their time in the plane.
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I find that very hard to believe considering I've done comprehensive research on the subject a while back, and everything seems to indicate that any noise induced (acoustic trauma) hearing loss will near-consistantly peak around 4kHz, not venturing far from this point.

I believe the relationship between fighter pilots and hearing loss at low frequencies would be Meniere's disease. Unless you have any evidence to change my mind, I'm pretty sure this is not applicable to bass.
 
EightySix Four

EightySix Four

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2004
5,122
52
91
Listening to my subs for extended periods of time makes me feel sick as ******, but I figured that was just because the subs are aimed directly at my back... Wish I had amp control at the Head Unit instead of unplugging those suckers :(
 
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