 The HB project and the HB channel are supported by Hi-Fi Klubben. That sound kills good music. A Dutch proverb says, who will not hear must feel. I would say who will not listen won't hear anymore. This video is too long, clearly moralising and challenging some of you to change your lifestyle. So why for Pete's sake should you watch it? There are many kinds of hearing damage and they can occur due to medical conditions as a result of your DNA or other reasons that you can't influence. That is not the kind of hearing damage I want to talk about here. There are also forms of hearing damage that you can prevent by applying what I call sound hygiene. There are three forms of hearing damage that occur the most as a result of poor sound hygiene. Hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis. Let's look at these three. Many people think that when you get older and the frequency response of your ears reduces from 20 kHz to somewhere down to 10 kHz, you are suffering from hearing loss. And in a sense you are. I describe this in MQA Part 1, why 24 bit 192 kHz audio. See the link in the top right corner. But that's not what auditions mean by hearing loss. They mean a drastic reduction of the sensitivity around 4 kHz as can be seen in this audiogram. Around 0 dB you find the sensitivities of both ears of a person without hearing loss plotted against frequency. The lower two traces are those of a person with severe hearing loss. As can be seen, the sensitivity in this case is 55 dB down from normal. The real disaster is that in the 4k region are those components of speech that provide intelligibility. In other words that person will not be able to understand speech in other than ideal conditions. If there is a radio or TV playing in the background or a water tap is running into a sink, this person might not be able to understand what you say even if you speak loud. People that suffer from hearing loss easily get socially isolated since they hate going to social events, for that is where they are confronted with their hearing problem the most. A hearing aid can help under ideal conditions but never under less than ideal conditions since they lack the directional information a healthy ear has as a result of the reflux on the outer ear. Getting deaf is a serious matter. I have seen people getting isolated, withdrawn and lonely through it. That's sad in all cases but it's even sadder when it's the result of poor sound hygiene and thus could have been prevented. Still you're relatively lucky when you just turned deaf. You could also get tinnitus. The word tinnitus comes from the Latin word tineire which means to ring. When you suffer from tinnitus you hear a phantom sound by the absence of real sound. This phantom sound may be heard in one ear in both ears or in the middle of the head. It might also be difficult to pinpoint its exact location. The phantom sound may be low, medium or high pitched and be a single sound or two or more components. It may be continuous or it may come and go. That sound might drive you crazy and people that suffer from tinnitus often sleep with a music player on playing relaxing sounds like the sound of the sea just above the level of the tinnitus sound. Tinnitus is not considered to be a disease or illness as such and the cause is not fully understood yet. But if you think you suffer from it, do consult your doctor, since there are ways to help you live a better life. If you don't it might drive you mad, it's that serious. But it can even be worse. Hyperacusis is a health condition where you have an increased sensitivity to certain frequencies and volume ranges of sound. A person suffering from hyperacusis experiences all sounds around him as if they were at very high level. Even more than tinnitus, this can drive a man to insanity and there are known cases for people that saw no other way out than suicide. There is no full understanding of what causes it but it looks like it's a bug of the brain and experiments are now performed that train the brain to behave more normal or perhaps less abnormal. Hyperacusis is already bad but there is also a chance of getting two or even all three conditions. You then can't hear what people say, are always pestered by whistling tones in your head while at the same time environmental sounds drive you crazy since you hear them at extremely loud levels. Don't think it can't happen to you and don't think it can't happen with classical music. It is believed that Beethoven suffered from all three. Hearing damage due to overexposure to high sound levels can be caused by every high sound level if the energy is applied over sufficient time. Whether you are exposed to a pilot driver or the firebird by Stravinsky or even a string quartet although then you have to be rather close to be exposed to high levels. Everyone understands that rock musicians risk hearing damage but very little people know that classical musicians also run a high risk of hearing loss. Just as helicopter pilots, piano tuners, printers and everyone that frequently spend time in an environment that has high sound pressure levels. So far for the risk you run. In part 2 of this video I will explain how good sound hygiene can prevent you of being at risk. And on that I will leave you with a very simple but important tip. Never ever stick a cotton swab in your ear. Never ever. The only thing it does is further tempt the earwax making it harder for the doctor to clean out your ears when they got completely clogged. In part 2 of this video you get more tips and tricks to not only keep your ears healthy but also use them even better for enjoying music. So all reasons to subscribe to this channel, follow me at Facebook, Google+, or Twitter. You can also post questions there but view my questions video first and please don't ask me personal buying advice. You'll find all the information in the show notes below this video on YouTube. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up and tell your friends on the web about it. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.