Are your listening levels healthy? Doing damage?

I certainly listened too loud when I was younger and my tinnitus today is the result. Actually, I started having tinnitus symptoms when I was about 40, (~25 years ago). I really regret not paying more attention to my hearing in my 20s and 30s. 

I listen to my system a LOT - Roon says 200 hours over the past 4 weeks. Since Covid, I have been working from home most of the time and I have my "office" set up at the back of my listening room. Most of the time, I'm listening at 55-65 dB-C. My system sounds very nice at this level, with excellent dynamics and plenty of detail. Occasionally, I'll turn it up a bit, but it's pretty rare to exceed 80db peaks. 

Some medications can cause tinnitus. I was taking Prilosec and started experiencing tinnitus. I read there might be a correlation so discontinued the medication and after a while the tinnitus went away. 

 Pharma think about profit at all cost...

i just read about prilosec...

😗

Very interesting to read all the comments. I think spending money on a quality sound pressure meter with a calibration device makes sense and very worthwhile.  Reed Instruments seems good.

Surprised no one has discussed keeping their ears clean. I had some blockage a couple years ago and I applied sweet oil daily for a while and that softened things up and got rid of the problem.  When you chew food the movement tends to be a self cleansing mechanism for the ear canal area. Also flowing warm water from a shower to the ear area is helpful.

Also I take metoprolol, a heart medication, and side effects are tinitus.

Cleaning ears comes up on other posts. Many of use clean them periodically. There are also warm water ear cleaning devices that attach to the faucet. My doctor has one and you can buy them on line.

I have a couple SPL devices… but just use my Iphone. Typically only to occationally mention the volume on a forum post.