Ears ringing and popping in new 19' Type R - Any wise advice?

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Sarrafian109

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So I actually went to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist, AND an Audiologist. Had my ears / sinuses examined, hearing checked and analyzed. My frequency range and sensitivity tested the same as it did two years ago, and there is no biological explanation for the excessive ringing that has started in my ears since I bought my 19' CTR. Maybe I just drew a very unlucky card and the frequencies this engine produces in the cabin happen to resonate with me in the worst way, but I still can't believe this is happening. I've owned everything from turbo 4's to V6's and V8's, and nothing has ever affected me like this. I'll post again in the future if I actually figure out what the hell is going on
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I think I get the same thing and have attributed it to the road noise that the stock wheel/tires make on these rough Washington state roads. It also seems like the cabin exacerbates that road noise for whatever reason.
 

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I think I get the same thing and have attributed it to the road noise that the stock wheel/tires make on these rough Washington state roads. It also seems like the cabin exacerbates that road noise for whatever reason.
I was going to say the same as this guy. I feel the car had a good amount of road noise when I got it. I switched to 18s and recently put in some noico sound deadening and this has also helped. I did notice that after switching to an aftermarket exhaust I had more noise again but luckily my Borla had a way to quiet it down. While hatchbacks a great acoustically for stereo sound I can see that shape can add to sounds like road noise and such being amplified.
 
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I was going to say the same as this guy. I feel the car had a good amount of road noise when I got it. I switched to 18s and recently put in some noico sound deadening and this has also helped. I did notice that after switching to an aftermarket exhaust I had more noise again but luckily my Borla had a way to quiet it down. While hatchbacks a great acoustically for stereo sound I can see that shape can add to sounds like road noise and such being amplified.
Where did you install the sound deadening material to make it effective?
 


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Where did you install the sound deadening material to make it effective?
Spare wheel well, underneath the rear seat, and the rear floor. I'm still debating whether to do more. It's time consuming but definitely worth it. I actually liked the stuff so much that I did the same with my truck on the roof and back seat area. I feel like on the Civic though it made it easier to talk in the car.
 

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Where did you install the sound deadening material to make it effective?
I wanted to follow up as well. I had been getting to the point where I decided I either needed to fix the exhaust booming or trade the car in, as much as it would pain me to do that.

I ordered four rolls of the soundskins pro (I only needed ~1.8 rolls for what you see here) as well as the OEM 5-door EX wheel well insulators.

I put the soundskins in what would normally be the spare tire well, off to the sides of the tire well in the cargo floor area, and on the thin sheet metal areas of the wheel wells. To decide where to put the material, I just tapped the metal with my finger, and if it sounded like a big steel drum, that is where the soundskins went. Lift up your cargo floor, take out the foam piece, and give it a try; you will quickly see what I mean.

The (subjective) verdict is, while the exhaust booming is not eliminated, it came WAY down. The road noise is also almost completely gone from the rear.... again, subjectively.

I took sound recordings "before", and I need to duplicate them "after", and when I do, I plan to post the overlays. But just what I've done here, I'd consider a very good improvement. Again, the exhaust booming is not eliminated. It is still there and noticeable, but I don't hate it like I did before.

PS, I have never applied sound deadening before, and I thought it was kind of a pain in the ass to cut all the pieces to the right shape and then get them to work with the contours. Definitely buy a wood roller.

PPS, the type R doesn't have much sound deadening (if any?) from the factory. To try to isolate whether it was road noise or exhaust noise, you can put it in neutral and coast from whatever speed. The sound/booming I disliked went away at the same vehicle speed but idle engine speed, so I attributed it primarily to exhaust booming and not tire/wind noise.

one more edit before I forget... this is 11 pounds of soundskins, maybe another 3 or 4 for the OE insulators. 16 pounds is still less weight than driving around with my toddler in the back so I can live with that.

Honda Civic 10th gen Ears ringing and popping in new 19' Type R - Any wise advice? IMG_7280.JPG


Honda Civic 10th gen Ears ringing and popping in new 19' Type R - Any wise advice? IMG_7286.JPG
 
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jkwanthechef

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The (subjective) verdict is, while the exhaust booming is not eliminated, it came WAY down. The road noise is also almost completely gone from the rear.... again, subjectively.

I took sound recordings "before", and I need to duplicate them "after", and when I do, I plan to post the overlays.
OK so as promised, here is the Before/After overlay. While I felt that the harshness came way down, the graphs do not support that... I really expected a different outcome, but according to this recording method, nothing changed (!).

I recorded with the C filter [ie, dB(C) ] because from my limited understanding, that is supposed to be better for recording the low-frequency noises that cause discomfort. So I'm either doing something wrong in the recording setup, or this is super placebo effect. Anyways, the graphs...

Honda Civic 10th gen Ears ringing and popping in new 19' Type R - Any wise advice? Before,After DB(C)
 
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OK so as promised, here is the Before/After overlay. While I felt that the harshness came way down, the graphs do not support that... I really expected a different outcome, but according to this recording method, nothing changed (!).

I recorded with the C filter [ie, dB(C) ] because from my limited understanding, that is supposed to be better for recording the low-frequency noises that cause discomfort. So I'm either doing something wrong in the recording setup, or this is super placebo effect. Anyways, the graphs...

Before,After DB(C).png
Wow, thank you so much for going through all that effort with the sound analysis. I think the issue with the sound isn't so much in the amplitude of the wave as it is the particular frequencies it exacerbates. If you send me a wav file of these sound clips I can upload and analyze them with Pro Tools to see where a majority of the frequency is living. I'll pm you my email. Since I'm a musician I have a lot of extra studio foam squares and just wound up lining the bottom of my trunk and passenger floor areas with that... sad I know, but it seems to have helped the harsh bass nature of the cabin.
 

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OK so as promised, here is the Before/After overlay. While I felt that the harshness came way down, the graphs do not support that... I really expected a different outcome, but according to this recording method, nothing changed (!).

I recorded with the C filter [ie, dB(C) ] because from my limited understanding, that is supposed to be better for recording the low-frequency noises that cause discomfort. So I'm either doing something wrong in the recording setup, or this is super placebo effect. Anyways, the graphs...

Before,After DB(C).png
Ringing and a lot of other weird audio stuff can actually be specific frequencies that are affected. It would be nice to do a measure by frequency over time and get a summary of the results, though that might be extremely difficult to visualize.
 


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Ringing and a lot of other weird audio stuff can actually be specific frequencies that are affected. It would be nice to do a measure by frequency over time and get a summary of the results, though that might be extremely difficult to visualize.
It will be this. Specific frequencies sets off my tinnitus and can actually put my ear (or tumour) into some sort of shock (best way I can describe) which causes me to temporarily, usually for a few hours or until I've slept, makes my ear very blocked-feeling and echoey.

You could try some audio filters in the short-term which reduce the amount of sound getting to your ear drums although if you like listening to music whilst driving, wouldn't really work.

Something like this: https://www.acscustom.com/uk/products/hearing-protection/universal-fit

Hope that helps a little.
 

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Not directly related to the OP, but sort of is. I posted some time ago about a very persistent tone emitted from the vehicle in 6th gear with throttle applied.

This afternoon, that tone was much more pronounced than before. It caused me to almost attenuate the tone (to where I was "tuned into it") and it started to give me a headache. That is the first time I've felt that. Worth noting I had the radio off and windows closed at this point so the noises are much more audible to start. At one point I shifted back into 5th gear to make the noise go away. Also, I tried turning the AC off and the noise was still present. The only way it stops is when I let go of the throttle.

I know with my tinnitus certain tones are known to aggravate it, but this was unlike anything I've experienced before.

It's a high pitched tone of a constant frequency, and no one seems to know what it could be... but for the rest of the trip I pretty much stayed in 5th gear just to avoid it.
 

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It will be this. Specific frequencies sets off my tinnitus and can actually put my ear (or tumour) into some sort of shock (best way I can describe) which causes me to temporarily, usually for a few hours or until I've slept, makes my ear very blocked-feeling and echoey.

You could try some audio filters in the short-term which reduce the amount of sound getting to your ear drums although if you like listening to music whilst driving, wouldn't really work.

Something like this: https://www.acscustom.com/uk/products/hearing-protection/universal-fit

Hope that helps a little.
Just to add to my previous post and bring some more personal experience to the thread - I bought a set of these which arrived the other day. Wore them on a 20mile round trip to another town today in the Civic and it was a happier trip as a result. Because of the nature of audio waves (treble are short vs bass which are much longer) the deeper tones seemed to get through the filter more-so than the treble which made the engine/exhaust seem a deeper note and took away a lot of the harshness to the sound which as the OP will know, is what sets his tinnitus (and mine) off.

I'd definitely give them (or something similar) a go as they're not expensive and could really help.
 

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The sound system (horrible) in my '19 will occasionally spit out some weird frequencies that actually hurt my ears. Road noise is less of a problem, but it's no luxo-cruiser, for sure. I'm daily driving, and downsizing wheels, upsizing sidewalls, and will happily give up some handling for less tire noise. I have had tinnitus since childhood. Fortunately the car hasn't made mine worse.
 

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Just to add to my previous post and bring some more personal experience to the thread - I bought a set of these which arrived the other day. Wore them on a 20mile round trip to another town today in the Civic and it was a happier trip as a result. Because of the nature of audio waves (treble are short vs bass which are much longer) the deeper tones seemed to get through the filter more-so than the treble which made the engine/exhaust seem a deeper note and took away a lot of the harshness to the sound which as the OP will know, is what sets his tinnitus (and mine) off.

I'd definitely give them (or something similar) a go as they're not expensive and could really help.
Really off topic... Deeper sound waves go through the ear plugs (all ear plugs) because bass tones are felt more than they are heard. That can’t really be blocked. It can also create an artificial bass boost effect as well.

I normally wear ear plugs (I use Etymotic since they’re actually local to me) whenever I’m in a loud environment. Factory I used to work at and any sort of live music (bar, concert, etc.).
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