[Mag]

I mentioned this somewhere before but it's has been awhile.
One time I had this dream where I was at a rock concert and the music was very loud. When I woke up my ears were ringing as if I had actually been listening to very loud music, yet the room I was sleeping in was quiet.

What do you think was going on in my head and what might the implications be on how the mind processes sound?

[Daverz]

I wake up with ringing in my ears every morning.  It's called tinnitus.

[drphoto]

Actually, I think it's interesting you brought this up.

 My system doesn't come 'alive' until past a certain volume, which is fairly loud. I don't have an SPL meter so I don't know the level, but it's above normal conversation.

Below that, the sound stage seems to collapse into the center, but just above the threshold the SS blooms out in every direction. I don't gain anything by trying to go beyond the threshold other than just plain loud.

I'm pretty protective of my hearing. I wear earplugs when I use power tools (inc the lawn tractor & trimmer) and when I go hear (most) live bands.

[Mag]

I wake up with ringing in my ears every morning.  It's called tinnitus.

I don't think I have tinnitus. This was like after attending a loud concert. You know your ears ring for like an hour or two afterwards. Yet this was just a dream an I had ringing in my ears afterwards.

[Mike Nomad]

When your ears "ring" for a finite period of time after going to a show, that is known as Temporary Threshold Shift (TTS), the result of your body trying to protect itself from sound pressure levels that are too loud.

Experiencing TTS means you have experienced some long-term to permanent hearing loss. When it aggregates enough, you'll get tinnitus.

[richidoo]

Your mind will create stories to play out during sleep which allow you to remain sleeping through any perceived external stimuli. If you have some tinnitus ringing, it is easy to make that work by dreaming of a rock concert.   

I once dreamed of Evel Kneivel holding the front tire of his loudly revving motorcyle to my neck threatening to run me over when it was just my brother snoring in the bunk below. 

If there was no coverup, you would wake from the inconsistency of the external stimulus not fitting the dream, and the mind knows sleep is more important than tinnitus at that moment. A part of the brain always remains awake and alert and conscious, analyzing the sounds for danger. Mothers always hear the baby cry, no matter how softly, or how tired they are.

[*Scotty*]

drphoto,you might want to invest in a Radio Shack SPL meter,they are not the most accurate, but it will tell you what SPL threshold your imaging comes alive at. If you are listening for long periods at above 85dB average SPL you are going to suffer hearing damage.  I personally consider a speaker that doesn't come alive from the first watt somewhat problematic,especially for late night listening. According to my Ratshack spl meter my system is creating an image below 70dB.
If I go way down in volume well below 60dB my ears non-linear frequency response charted somewhat inaccurately by the Fletcher-Munson curve kicks in with a vengeance and the stereo doesn't sound so good.   If you read very many loudspeaker reviews you will find that reviewers frequently remark that speaker X really comes alive when it hits 90dB or 95dB and it likes a lot of power. Reading between the lines,what they are really saying is that speaker X is pretty much dead sounding below 95dB and they had to turn the volume up loud enough to drive everyone out of the room before it really sounded good. Whats wrong with this picture?
Scotty

[Mag]

>>My system doesn't come 'alive' until past a certain volume, which is fairly loud. I don't have an SPL meter so I don't know the level, but it's above normal conversation. <<

You're probably listening in the 92-95 db range. Spl using the A scale can be deceptive. That's why I prefer the C scale for audio.

For example: I'm listening to River Deep Mountain High by DP. On the A scale which supposedly simulates human hearing, it measures approx. 88 db. On the C scale it measures 100 db, which means there is a lot of bass. The loudness however is above voice level which would be perceived more like 95 db on A scale.

On the other hand spl could measure 95 A scale and let's say 90 db on C scale which means there is not alot of bass spl.

[Mike Nomad]

I was wondering when the subject of measurement was going to come up. For a good explanation of the various measurement weighting scales, and their appropriate use:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-weighting

[decal]

It didn't take long for this thread to get off topic!!

[*Scotty*]

Here is the problem,the original poster dreamed he heard something and woke up with ringing in his ears or tinnitus. He asked what is going on in his head. I confess I don't have a clue. If he hears sounds or voices that are not there while awake this is an indicator of schizophrenia.
If he awakened with real ringing in his ears and had never experienced tinnitus before this is cause for some concern. Tinnitus has a basis in physiology and is not a psychoacoustic phenomena.

Scotty

[Mag]

I like Richidoo's explanation, we'll go with that. I don't recall specifics but at the time I was playing the stereo of upwards of 50 hours a week. Sometimes with headphones that was too loud. So although I never experienced tinnitus before on waking from sleep, it is possible that my ears had not fully recovered from the night before.
Also about this time I was experiencing extreme listening fatigue. However once I got past this phase I found that I can listen for like 8 hours straight on my system and not suffer fatigue. Like there was an intinial listening barrier of the brain being able to process info from being over worked.

[drphoto]

Sorry, I suppose I jumped on the 'psychoacoustics' title, rather than focusing on the the original post.

Maybe I should start a thread on soundstage and volume.

[dflee]

Blood pressure when raised significantly can cause a temporary ringing in the ears.
You may of had a dream that put your pressure way up there. I've known some people while awake and in an excited or highly aware situation can here their heart beat or drum in their ears. As long as it is not permanent or occur often, consider yourself lucky.

Don

[werd]

You should probably take a break from listening to loud music as it now is interfering with your sleep. This to me seems bad and your brain telling you to stop for awhile. I can't see this resulting in a restful sleep. Without sleep you begin to go bonkers..... literally.

this reminds me when i was playing too long on vid games late into the night. Night after night going to bed at 4 am waking up with only 4 hours sleep or so. I was really addicted. Started dreaming about vid games and waking up thinking i am in vid game...lol. it was driving me crazy during the day, no sleep and when i did sleep my brain still played out the games.... really weird...

[roymail]

dflee pointed out the BP can result in ringing.  Some medications will also cause this to happen.

For me, I'm more likely to experience some ringing as a result of listening to my ipod, music forced directly into the ear canals.  However, I'm still careful to lower the volume when I "feel" that happening.

I'm very concerned about the younger generation playing rock or pop music a damaging levels on the pods.

[JRace]

I'm very concerned about the younger generation playing rock or pop music a damaging levels on the pods.

The 'younger' generation is not the first to use personal music players.
I would be more worried about the youths from the 80's blarring Iron Maiden on massive boomboxes on their shoulders.

In the end there is ZERO data on music induced hearing loss as experienced by the 'iPod' generation. I have been looking for data for 8years now as I am in Audiology and have an iPod.

Back to the OP, I do not see this as strange or not possible.
When we hear a sound it is not because the sound hit the ear drum, rather the electrical impulse sent along the Vestibular nerve is received in the brain. In most cases this impulse is derived from the mechanical vibration received at the ear drum. In many cases Tinnitus (current science and data indicates) is due to a mis-reception of electrical impulses in the brain. Therefore it is entirely possible that the tinnitus you experienced upon waking up was due to the brain perceiving loud sounds while you were dreaming.

Alternatively, you may have been in the type of sleep where by your brain has not fully disconnected you from your muscle-system causing the autonomous response to loud sounds (contracting the facial muscle system that reduces the transmission of sound from the eardrum to the cochlea). Over use of this muscle system sometimes leads to temporary tinnitus.

Unless this occurs frequently I would not be concerned.
If it does occur frequently, and you came to my clinic, I would refer you to your family doctor, with a recomondation you see a Neurologist.

[roymail]

I'm a baby boomer and enjoy my ipod for listening to relaxing classical music at bedtime. 

That's the only time I pipe music directly into my ears.   

[Mag]

I never really knew what Tinnitus was. I guess I have some ringing in the ears but I only notice it when the room is quiet. The incident I was describing my ears were ringing like I had just left a loud rock concert, when the room was quiet.