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Sometimes everything sounds terrible to my ears. Lacking of high end or ear piercing (or both a same time). After few days after stopping practicing everything goes back to normal. Does my hearing fatigue or it is something wrong with my ears?

teodozjan
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    Revealing what instrument in what circumstances will help provide more meaningful answers. World of difference practising clarinet in a sound absorbing room to practising on electric guitar, with other band members who haven't learned the benefits of playing quietly. – Tim Dec 21 '16 at 22:56
  • I focus on guitar. But when I have this issue any music sounds wrong – teodozjan Dec 22 '16 at 07:56
  • Getting closer! Classical guitar or loud electric? It would be easy to assume the latter is the cause. – Tim Dec 22 '16 at 09:01
  • Both. And I also listen rock music more than classical – teodozjan Dec 22 '16 at 09:33
  • So, is it extreme volume that's causing the problem? – Tim Dec 22 '16 at 09:36
  • I'm not sure what is extreme volume. I tend to listen music louder than people that don't play any instrument. I don't use distortion from amp because it is too loud. I don't have tinnitus. It looks more like be related with amount of music I listen than loudness overall. – teodozjan Dec 22 '16 at 09:45
  • Distortion doesn't necessarily equal loudness. It used to, when the only way to achieve it was to turn up to 11. – Tim Dec 22 '16 at 09:48
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/50521/discussion-between-teodozjan-and-tim). – teodozjan Dec 22 '16 at 10:25

2 Answers2

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Wow, this is a big subject - & one I'm not fully qualified to answer, but I'm going to try anyway...

Hearing fatigue is a very real phenomenon, though it takes many forms, of which I shall just skirt the main aspects...

  1. You get bored.
    Your brain, rather than your ears, stops hearing anything other than what you are concentrating on.
    This is a "mix killer" & a sign you ought to quit for the day & come back tomorrow... it's also one of the hardest to self-identify

  2. Actual 'volume fatigue'
    This is a 'compression' of the mix that occurs if you have been listening too long at too high volume
    ...again, the 'fix' is to come back tomorrow.

  3. You need to blow your nose.
    The worst - once you do, your entire day's work is suddenly invalidated. Everything sounds wrong
    Fix, again, is 'come back tomorrow'

  4. 'Check it in the car' syndrome
    If you cannot make a portable mix; one that sounds good everywhere - car, iTunes, walkman [if anyone still has one], friend's stereo...
    then you may need to re-evaluate your studio listening environment - test for resonance in your mix room. Also poor monitoring or headphones [Aaaarrrgh, you cannot mix on headphones] may be responsible for the discrepancy.

There are others, I hope someone else will fill my gaps...

Tetsujin
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In short: you can, yes. Just like with any kind of information, you might be experiencing some sort of fatigue. From what you describe, though, it may be that you have some sort of lesion, and the inflamation gets worse when you are exposed to certain sounds for an extended period of time. Solutions might be a) take breaks often, 2) go see a doctor, make sure they examine your tympanus, 3) low your decibels :-)

umdoistre
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