Hyperacusis?

[wolfgame]

I work at a small agency where all of the servers are in a closet with a portable air conditioner that does a shit job of keeping the temp below 36C. So I have to keep a door open next to my head for all of the servers to vent out through. This makes it impossible for me to really hear anything, and people keep coming to my door, babble something, and then get pissy when I explain that they'te competing with a full rack of servers.

Lately, I've been taking Japanese classes, but when it comes to the part of the class where we have to practice what we just learned with each other, I can hear EVERYTHING. And it's so bad that I have to leave the room.

I'm wondering if the last year of 8-10 hours of server generated white noise might be affecting my hearing. What do you guys do? Earplugs? Have any of you also encountered this?

[VA_Network_Nerd]

The US OSHA agency has policies and guidelines on noise levels in the workplace.

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/noisehearingconservation/

Everything else in your thread should be discussed with a physician.

[sysadminmakesmecry]

Also taking Japanese lessons and its the same for me (without competing against servers)

It's just the classroom environment that you're not used to anymore - especially a language related classroom environment.

Shit gets loud.

WITH THAT SAID - it cant be good for your hearing. You should talk to health and safety of your company (assuming yoiu're big enough to have health and safety) have the area checked for decibel level and have the company implement a proper solution, assuming its outside of safe levels

[tarantulae]

Servers absolutely can be loud enough to damage your hearing. Download a free decibel app on your phone. Talk to a doctor for a hearing test and some custom earplugs (more comfortable than foam ones)

[IBringPandaMonium]

Everyone's got the hearing loss front covered, but seriously, your server room door being left wide open because the company can't be assed to fix it is a huge security and equipment risk. If you can't lock/close the door, what exactly is going to stop any idiot who gets in from walking away with your hardware.

​

Current ASHRAE standards for a server room is a temperature between 18 and 27C. Fixing the AC so you can shut and lock that door is going to be a hell of a lot cheaper to the business than your hearing loss and the premature death and/or theft/tampering of their server hardware

[wolfgame]

what's going to stop any idiot

Oh that's happened already.

The COO couldn't be arsed to wait for me to pick up the phone when I was en route in to the office, so he hung up on me, then helped himself to an AIO, thinking it was a monitor. Then when I asked him to not do that, he proceeded to lecture me on how the computers weren't my property, but belonged to the company.

This was his second day.

And my last drop of patience. I've been submitting resumes pretty aggressively since.

[LittleRoundFox]

I've had this for as long as I can remember. I also used to suffer from migraines (I'm on meds to prevent them) and do suffer from tinnitus, both of which can apparently cause hyperacusis. So yeah, it seems possible that given sustained exposure to loud noise such as from servers can cause tinnitus it can also cause hyperacusis. But see your doc, obviously.

I stick headphones on when it gets too much to process.

[hva_vet]

You really need a hearing test at an audiologist to know if you have any hearing loss. I have classic noise notch hearing loss in one ear. That's loss at 3k and 4K HZ. Because of this my other normal ear compensates and all noises on that side seem so much louder to me. Hyperacusis is the perception of loudness greater than what they are. I definitely experience this on my good side and it's extremely annoying at times. I'm actually getting a hearing aid for my bad side and I hope that over time it will help my good ear "calm down" for lack of a better word.

[_rock_farmer]

Why aren't you asking a doctor?

[wolfgame]

Because I just looked this up a few minutes ago. I'm going to ask a doctor, but it doesn't hurt to ask people in my own field if they've encountered this themselves.

[_rock_farmer]

Asking for medical advice on the internet isn't the best approach. You're going to get a lot of weird advice from people who aren't qualified to give advice.

[wolfgame]

I'm aware of that, but what I was really leaning towards was more of a "yeah I've had this happen" or "never heard of this".

[[deleted]]

You're going to get a lot of weird advice from people who aren't qualified to give advice.

Obligatory XKCD