Tinnitus

[Nishant]

ANC does not cause Tinnitus and it is a well established fact.

I have Tinnitus since December 2020 and I had done a lot of reading about it.

 

[Pankaj]

I am not saying only ANC, but yea ANC headphones do cause maybe to small percentage of people.

 

[Jonas]

On the contrary I’ve heard ANC helps people with tinnitus.

 

[Chip]

My Sony ANC headphones (XM3 and XM4) and the XM3 earphones cause me tinnitus when ANC is switched on and I speak only from my ownership experience. I switch off the ANC and it feels much better though the ringing persists for hours after I stop using the set. YMMV of course...it may or may not affect you. While the Sennheiser MTW2 earphones do not cause any issues (for me) but the key difference is they arent as good as the Sonys in ANC. I dont feel the pressure building up in my ears as I do with the Sonys. Nevertheless I switch off ANC in the Senns too.

Others have also reported it (one example here ..there are others, Google for more) though it may affect only some out of a larger population.

 

[mhsabir]

I have been suffering from it for more than 6 months on my left year. But now have sort of gotten used to it.

 

[Nishant]

@Chip The top comment in that reddit thread explains the exact reason many feel like that.

 

[Chip]

@Nishant nopes not in my case I am well aware of what I experience if I were to use the headphones/earphones with and without ANC vs what I hear (tinnitus in the right ear) when I clamp down on my ears to block external sounds.

The tinnitus definitely increases if I use Sony's ANC feature persisting for hours after I stop using the headphones. I actually feel the difference thats why I just set it to off..and remember I have a mild case in one ear only. It goes away after a few days but should I use ANC it's back within minutes. My ears hurt when the pressure builds up. Its possibly unique to me and some others. It has put me off ANC near permanently. My open and close back cans (different types; monitors and audiophile, wired and wireless) don't have a -ve effect.

I hardly use the Sony cans now. I am that badly put off by those darned expensive headphones. The sound quality is pretty good as is the wearing comfort which make them tolerable.

 

[Sushubh]

I have self diagnosed myself with pulsatile tinnitus after doing a lot of google-fu lol. Blood Pressure seems to be fine. Probably would book an appointment to get a hearing test in coming days.

 

[Sushubh]

Now it has upgraded to continues ringing

 

[Chip]

@Sushubh you really need to visit a doc if this continuous ringing persists for over a day or two. In the meantime don't strain your ears ie no music especially with head/ear phones or exposure to loud sounds/traffic and see if it improves. There are some YT vids on methods to get rid of it. May or may not work for you. They didn't for me. In my case it went away on its own..but comes back every now and then.