which is worse for your hearing....

Hootsmon

in ear phones or a set of cans @ the same volume?

hugbot

In ear phones because they don't block external noise so you crank them more. At the same volume though they'd do th same damage I assume.

not_the_dj

Do you mean same volume on the player, or same 'apparent' volume to the listener?

Maynehead

Neither should do any permanent damage to your hearing... unless you crank the volume, in which case both will be bad for your hearing.

The main difference for me is the bigger and more natural "sound stage" you get from a larger driver of the headphones.

Hootsmon

same volume on the player

I've noticed that there is more bass response and an apparent rise in volume with the cans....

Maynehead

hootsmon said:

same volume on the player

I've noticed that there is more bass response and an apparent rise in volume with the cans....

That's just the sensitivity of the drivers, the cans may be more efficient, but not necessarily because they're cans. 

ICBM

At the same dB level at the ear they will be equally bad. But if the cans are louder at the same player setting then the cans will be worse.

You can also generally get more absolute level with cans before distortion if the amp will produce enough power.

But distortion is potentially worse for your hearing than a clean sound at the same volume level, I think.

So it may work out about the same overall. The bottom line is that both can damage your hearing if you play them too loud for too long...

Myranda

I'd guess that at the same dB level the in ear ones would be marginally worse as they're closer to the ear drum, and focused into the ear canal were some of the air pressure from the big cans would bounce off the bits of your ear around the ear canal... but this will be a very small distinction.

Personally I prefer isolating in-ear ones because I can turn the volume right down... so if I'm out and about it's in ear with good sound isolating ear buds.. 

Indoors I can isolate myself from noise better so I can then use big open over-ears and still turn the volume down and still hear it all...

Sporky

ICBM said:

But distortion is potentially worse for your hearing than a clean sound at the same volume level, I think.

IIRC it's more energy for the same perceived loudness, and more high frequencies.

However, while distortion does increase hearing damage, it's not a massive difference compared to clean at the same volume.

strtdv

Transients (eg drums) are particularly bad for your hearing as you actually have a tiny muscle in your middle ear which reduces sound transmission to the inner ear, but it deals with more sustained sound better than transient noises

Hootsmon

are some of you guys familiar with the little sandisk mp3 ply?

you can reset the default audio tae "rest of the world" during set up and this brings the volume up a little from the way too low UK default..anyways ,my normal listening volume is 3 notches from full..Hooters says it's much too loud...whaddya all think?