Bass causing nausea?

sunilkm

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Over the weekend I was listening songs and pushed the volume little up. There was lot of bass punch. No deep bass rumbles or vibrations. I think it is mid bass.

Tracks by Guru Randhawa:
1) Taare
2) High Rated Gabru

This was the setting:

Subwoofer volume level : 50%
Subwoofer level in AVR : +1.5 as set by YAPO.
Cut-off : 80Hz
Volume level in AVR : -10db.
Subwoofer is placed infront of FL and so the front face of sub is only 4.5ft far from Sofa.

After 2 songs It caused some kind of nausea, discomfort and overall sickness feeling. This is the first time I was having that feeling. Then I lowered the volume. It took some time to get over that feeling.

Anyone else experienced similar syndrome?
 
Hi

If you are not used to hearing a lot of bass then you should trim the sub levels or even adjust the cutoff freq....

Some of us are used to loud music be it in concerts or pubs or ear phones...hence habituated to the same.

Also the most important thing....all Audessey setups or YPAO is never 100% full proof....you either get low output but good EQ...tonal balances....the issue here is if you pump up the volume....you end up with muddy sound which is not at all pleasant...

Hence i manually tweak my EQ to suit my tastes and also consider the room which would have some amount of furniture, sound proofing (if there) etc.
 
Hi,

Interesting observation. I have had similar problems while listening to high frequency sounds (high pitch music) - especially on low quality sources such as you-tube. This is more so on days when I have a slight headache or am irritated in some way or the other.

Sound does have a huge impact on your body - it is no surprise that pleasant sounds such as 'rain' or 'ocean waves' or 'birds chirping' are used to reduce stress levels.

Maybe the bass levels were too much for your body, causing it to make you feel nauseous. You mood on that day could also have played a role.

I would say - don't worry too much about it. If it happens too often, then maybe you can think about why.

best,
apk.
 
Hi

If you are not used to hearing a lot of bass then you should trim the sub levels or even adjust the cutoff freq....

Some of us are used to loud music be it in concerts or pubs or ear phones...hence habituated to the same.

Also the most important thing....all Audessey setups or YPAO is never 100% full proof....you either get low output but good EQ...tonal balances....the issue here is if you pump up the volume....you end up with muddy sound which is not at all pleasant...

Hence i manually tweak my EQ to suit my tastes and also consider the room which would have some amount of furniture, sound proofing (if there) etc.

Yes will do some level tweaking. The bass was not muddy and there was plenty of pronounced punch. May be also because I am not at all exposed to concerts and loud pub music.
 
I had exactly the same thing happen to me when I added a Linn Sub to my then system about 8 years ago. It was horrible couldn't listen to anything without cringing.

Later managed to adjust it. It had a setting to raise the "lowest frequency produced by the Sub". The thing was capable of going down as low as 18Hz!(default). I changed it to highest setting of 40Hz and Voila life was bliss no more nausea. Sounded delightful paired with a pair of Linn Kan's driven by a Linn Klout.
 
I felt the same when I bought svs pc12 plus. Surprisingly the default volume was 20db which is very heavy and is recommended.
I had to turn it down to 25db then after used to this 23db was good.

After house shift I couldn't use it for almost one year and was happy with floor stands bass.
Recently I connected the sub again and felt the chest rumble and nausea.
Later I understood that it take time to get used to the sub.
My dad could not take the sub. Whenever he enters, insists me to switch off the sub.
Wharfedale sw150 also I have. But it is nothing for me as I got used to svs sub.

Sent from my Lenovo K50a40 using Tapatalk
 
Better few days put them off and check you will enjoy afterwards, but note that if you listen music louder you can't enjoy longer period. if you want to enjoy music for hours, make sure volume level is up to your ears(balanced) only.
 
Better few days put them off and check you will enjoy afterwards, but note that if you listen music louder you can't enjoy longer period. if you want to enjoy music for hours, make sure volume level is up to your ears(balanced) only.

I am enjoying the sub for everyday music listening and movies. It is just that for those songs with "high energy" with increased volume I felt that nausea feeling. My reading on this took me to some articles and posts saying the mid bass punch can cause such feeling at elevated volume levels. Also there is no "Low bass in 20Hz range" in these music tracks.
I have played these tracks again with decent volume and it was fine and no issues

But as per many users comments this seems to be a known thing.. :)
 
I would say that if the bass is not very well defined, that can also cause this.
 
I would say that if the bass is not very well defined, that can also cause this.

This is exactly what came to my mind too. Too much of a single frequency or closeby frequencies can cause headache and nausea.

In high end setups, I have seen this happening due to the impact of standing waves. Try using sound absorbing open cell foam blocks or opening the windows of your room. Moving the speakers and/or your listening position can also help. The best option - move your music system to another room where the standing waves do not get added up (ideally a room made in golden ratio).
 
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