Car Subwoofer ear pressure

[RobGMN 5,000+ posts]

Popwar: Rather than threadjack, I'll start my own thread, and I'd like to hear your experience.

To OP, I wouldn't worry about the sub damaging your ears. I've heard (though haven't researched) that distortion is harder on your eardrums than volume alone, so I'd avoid overdriving your system to a point where it sounds distorted. My ears hurt more after a few hours driving on the highway in my POS work pickup (underpowered, poorly insulated, cheapest pickup my employer could possibly get) than after a few hours driving with my stereo up.

I took some advice I had read concerning how long term noise can actually be stressful and cause us to be physically tired without even exerting energy.
When I used to put on a lot of miles, I decided to test the theory. Simply putting some chunks of cotton ball in my ear to knock down road noise actually made a noticeable difference.
The good thing about the cotton was I could adjust it to get the best compromise between cutting down road noise and cutting out “all” sound.
Give it a try the next time you have to put in some windshield time. You might be surprised at what it can do for you.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

I took some advice I had read concerning how long term noise can actually be stressful and cause us to be physically tired without even exerting energy.
When I used to put on a lot of miles, I decided to test the theory. Simply putting some chunks of cotton ball in my ear to knock down road noise actually made a noticeable difference.
The good thing about the cotton was I could adjust it to get the best compromise between cutting down road noise and cutting out “all” sound.
Give it a try the next time you have to put in some windshield time. You might be surprised at what it can do for you.

That explains why I am so worn out and pissy after a day of driving! Sometimes I listen to my bluetooth headphones (Kicker EB400, which I do not recommend) while I drive just to cut down on road noise. I don't know the legality of it in my state, but it makes the drive much more pleasant. Thanks for the tip. I could see the cotton cutting down on road noise, but wouldn't it also make it harder to hear your radio?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I've heard (though haven't researched) that distortion is harder on your eardrums than volume alone, so I'd avoid overdriving your system to a point where it sounds distorted.

This was my thought and it's called "listening fatigue".

I suspect the culprit is the +7 on whatever primitive EQ boost OP is using and driving something beyond its limits. A very misaligned frequency response will cause this fatigue rather quickly as well.

There is absolutely no way that 200W subwoofer system is causing harm, either OP has some other ear disorder or he is experiencing listening fatigue because something else is way wrong.

 

[RobGMN 5,000+ posts]

That explains why I am so worn out and pissy after a day of driving! Sometimes I listen to my bluetooth headphones (Kicker EB400, which I do not recommend) while I drive just to cut down on road noise. I don't know the legality of it in my state, but it makes the drive much more pleasant. Thanks for the tip. I could see the cotton cutting down on road noise, but wouldn't it also make it harder to hear your radio?

A strong maybe.
I actually use foam shooters earplugs and find I play the radio lower because I’m cutting out road noise.
It sounds odd, because you think the radio sound would be reduced too, but I’ve done it over and over and it’s consistent.
You could also try digital noise reduction earbuds to reduce that drone. I have them, but it almost seems like they create pressure in my ear canal. That could also be the “silence” effect, like being in an anechoic chamber. Can actually make people cuckoo.
I have what is essentially a safe room in my house with an amazingly low noise floor. It gets so quiet at night, I can hear my pulse. Can’t stand it after a few minutes…

 

[razorblade]

Thanks everyone! Today I drove a return trip of a bit more than 30 minutes, so 1 hour in total without radio plugged in and subwoofer powered off. The ear pressure is much less! There really must be something with either the stereo or the subwoofer. I can try driving with stereo and without subwoofer to see if the problem occurs. My ears feel 'relaxed' now in the car instead of stressed out. My ear drums didn't pull back like usual.

I want to figure out what the problem is. Maybe my stereo speakers are too old? 15 years. I'm not sure what the problem could be, but I definitely want to keep my ears safe AND also hopefully enjoy my beautiful sound system as before.

 

[RobGMN 5,000+ posts]

Thanks everyone! Today I drove a return trip of a bit more than 30 minutes, so 1 hour in total without radio plugged in and subwoofer powered off. The ear pressure is much less! There really must be something with either the stereo or the subwoofer. I can try driving with stereo and without subwoofer to see if the problem occurs. My ears feel 'relaxed' now in the car instead of stressed out. My ear drums didn't pull back like usual.

I want to figure out what the problem is. Maybe my stereo speakers are too old? 15 years. I'm not sure what the problem could be, but I definitely want to keep my ears safe AND also hopefully enjoy my beautiful sound system as before.

Try plugging an Audessy mic into you phone and doing a frequency analysis with a spectrum analyzer app.
Might help you pinpoint the problem.
You might just have ears that are particularly sensitive to certain frequencies. In the days of tube television, I could tell from anywhere in our not-small house when a TV powered up. The flyback transformer gave off a high-pitched whine that only I could hear.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Thank you for your responses. I've tried driving about 2.5 hours today. Ended with these settings:

Subwoofer +5
Bass level +5
Mid level +4
Treble +3

Had some passengers for 20 minutes. Asked about their ears. No problem. My ears after the drive are ringing a bit. Not sure what it is or what to do. If it really is the car noise and I need ear plugs for that already, I would find it odd, but would use them. I don't understand how a little music can make me feel like this. I'm confused. My hearing test was okay, but tinnitus is annoying and I want to make sure it doesn't get worse.

You shouldn't need to run every EQ setting boosted. You seem to be trying to use your EQ to increase the system's over all output. If you really think you need everything boosted, turn treble down to 0, mid to +1, bass and sub to +2, and adjust your amp gains up. This should yield a similar response comparison between frequencies while adding less distortion.

 

[razorblade]

Thank you! I have the feeling that my original car speakers that accompany my subwoofer might be a bit old and distorted. They are 15 years old. I know that the sound starts cracking at +9 and sounds a little low budget on +1. I'm contacting my car audio specialist tomorrow to see if he can check it out.

 

[razorblade]

So I called the dealer and he basically said that lowering the volume would be the fix.

Today I switched to FM and the volume went like crazy. That's when I realized I'm not outputting as much as the speaker volume is playing. So I turned up my bluetooth volume on my phone and got the same result with half volume (was 30 now 15). It also sounds much better. I have the feelingbthat this setup is way healthier. I'm trying now. Also I felt less ear pressure.

 

[razorblade]

Hi everyone, still have issues. I'm actually a little desperate in this situation and considering abandoning my subwoofer to save my ears

During a ride with quite moderate volume, I still have increased ringing in my ears and a little pressure. Even if it's not much, it's too much! My ears are too valuable. But that would mean that basically if I want to have any benefit from the subwoofer it would hurt my ears, the more benefits, the more it hurts. But I don't want it to hurt at all. I just want to enjoy the music.

I'm looking at the possibilities. Hopefully I can find a dealer tomorrow who would help me looking at the settings.

 

[ed v]

Thank you for your responses. I've tried driving about 2.5 hours today. Ended with these settings:

Subwoofer +5
Bass level +5
Mid level +4
Treble +3

Had some passengers for 20 minutes. Asked about their ears. No problem. My ears after the drive are ringing a bit. Not sure what it is or what to do. If it really is the car noise and I need ear plugs for that already, I would find it odd, but would use them. I don't understand how a little music can make me feel like this. I'm confused. My hearing test was okay, but tinnitus is annoying and I want to make sure it doesn't get worse.

Hello, I recently upgraded my stock system with new speakers amp and stereo. How ever after about 45 mins of driving around testing the sound I started noticing my ears getting dull at first . I lowered the volume down and my hearing was getting worse and started feeling some heavy pressure like when you dive deep. After that I turned off the stereo completely and noticed a humming sound coming out of my speakers the pressure got even worse from the frequencies that the humming was producing. It got so bad I had a panic attack and almost felt that if I stayed any longer inside my truck my ears were going to burst. As soon as I got a chance I got out of my truck and started feeling nauseous. After 2 mins or so the pressure went away and started to feel calm. I left the engine runing and got back in my truck my stereo was completely off but the amp was still on and sending the signal to my side speakers and I started feeling the pressure and pain again started to panic again. I got out and complete removed all the wires from the amp woofer ect. Got back in the truck and the pressure started going Away. I have had systems in the past and this has never happened to me before. My plan is to take it back to the shop and have the side speakers run straight from the stereo and not the amp because it was pretty loud I will just have the woofers connected to the amp and hope that it gets rid of that humming frequency that I feel was causing the problem. It took about 3 hours to get my hearing back it was definitely something very scary and now I’m going to be cautious about loud music. An eye opener for sure . Any one else that has experienced this even with out music playing only by the humming or static sounds that the amps produces due to any type of wiring ground ect problems?

 

[ed v]

Thank you for your responses. I've tried driving about 2.5 hours today. Ended with these settings:

Subwoofer +5
Bass level +5
Mid level +4
Treble +3

Had some passengers for 20 minutes. Asked about their ears. No problem. My ears after the drive are ringing a bit. Not sure what it is or what to do. If it really is the car noise and I need ear plugs for that already, I would find it odd, but would use them. I don't understand how a little music can make me feel like this. I'm confused. My hearing test was okay, but tinnitus is annoying and I want to make sure it doesn't get worse.

Hello, I recently upgraded my stock system with new speakers amp and stereo. How ever after about 45 mins of driving around testing the sound I started noticing my ears getting dull at first . I lowered the volume down and was getting worse. After that I turned off the stereo completely and noticed

But my setup shouldn't hurt, right? I mean, it doesn't sound too loud at all. I just feel air pressure in my ears.

could be the feedback from your system that’s causing this problem like any humming or sound even when the music is off or low

 

[ed v]

Thanks everyone! Today I drove a return trip of a bit more than 30 minutes, so 1 hour in total without radio plugged in and subwoofer powered off. The ear pressure is much less! There really must be something with either the stereo or the subwoofer. I can try driving with stereo and without subwoofer to see if the problem occurs. My ears feel 'relaxed' now in the car instead of stressed out. My ear drums didn't pull back like usual.

I want to figure out what the problem is. Maybe my stereo speakers are too old? 15 years. I'm not sure what the problem could be, but I definitely want to keep my ears safe AND also hopefully enjoy my beautiful sound system

Could be the connection that’s sending frequencies to your ears that you probably can’t hear but is causing the pressure. It happened to me. I did the same removed the wires from the amp and seriously fixed the issue need to take it back to the shop and have them figure out what’s causing the humming sound.

 

[audioslave420]

There is no way the 200w sub is doing damage unless you’re cranking out distortion. Just as easily as distortion will damage speakers it will damage your hearing. Put all eq’s on 0, you shouldn’t have to mess with the EQ at all if tuned properly. If you do have to EQ try subtracting only (take away, dont add). You can very easily get the sound you want via this method and won’t clip (distort) the signal at high volumes.

What kind of tweeters are you running? Personally I’ve found that low-mid quality “hard” tweeters (metal) fatigue my ears very quickly. Conversely, soft tweeters have never had that effect. So unless your budget allows for very high end metal tweeters, try soft dome tweets.

I think the problem is your ears/hearing? The “pressure” you’re describing likely happens around other loud noises/sounds? Maybe you don’t notice because you’re not subjecting your ears to other sound sources for long periods of time?

Finally, tune your sub properly. You may need to borrow a friend for this because something is messing with your hearing.

•Turn the sub level all the way down.
•Turn up the volume on your head unit until the other speakers distort. Remember that volume # and don’t go that high ever.
•Back the volume off until the sound cleans up. Remember that volume #. It is as loud as you should ever turn your stereo up.
•Now that you know how loud your head unit can go without distortion. Repeat this process with the sub level (with maximum clean volume coming from head unit).
•If you’ve accurately found the distortion thresholds of your equipment you’ve tuned your system successfully.

Try to avoid adding with the EQ if possible. It’s the quickest/simplest way to introduce distortion into the signal path (overdriving the amp or speakers) unless, as I said before, you’re subtracting vs adding.

Unsatisfactory sound quality should be addressed first with hardware not software. I.e. better speakers and better/higher power. After that is accomplished you can safely tweak the EQ to to enhance whatever style of music you’re listening to. I’d avoid going up or (hopefully) down more than 1 or 2. If you find yourself tweaking more than that you’re just trying to compensate for sub-par equipment.

 

[huberoy123 10+ year member]

Hi everyone,

A couple months ago I bought a 200W JBL BassPro Nano under seat subwoofer for my car. The sound seems good, but I think I tested the volume a bit too much in the beginning, which caused me to have to see a doctor with tinnitus-like symptoms. Now I am trying to play the subwoofer more moderately, but I still experience air pressure on my ears and after a longer ride a beep in my ears, while I feel like the sound is loud, but should not be too loud. I have a small car. Could it be my (equalizer) settings?

My current settings are
Subwoofer +0 (with quarter of subwoofer volume open)
Bass +7
Mid + 7
Treble + 7

On the subwoofer I opened the gain a bit more than half. The low pass filter is at its lowest and the bass boost is off. In my car radio, the bass boost is +2.

I have a JVC KD-R871BT radio with volume around 30. It sounds loud, of course, but I feel like it should be reasonable still. I use bluetooth and have my phone volume touching the warning level of "may be damagable to ears", but not crossing that level.

Do you have any ideas? Could it be a setting?

Thanks in advance!

I also have a JVC unit, and if I turn the volume up near 20, it is absolutely looooud!! Of course, I have aftermarket amps. I suggest you leave the volume down. Your hearing is priceless.