Ears and hearing

[Peter Galbavy]

This may have been talked about in the past but not since I have been hanging around the forums, but what about our ears ? And then the rest; sinuses, skin, chest cavities ?

These are mostly retorical questions / points, but I would like to hear if others have views...

We go to all this effort to reproduce this air movement and noise we like to call music, but how good are we at receiving it ? I know my hearing is shot above about 12KHz (through age and excessive noise in younger days) but on the other hand I try to keep my ears clean and free of muck - which cycling lots can certainly impact (ergh!). My sinuses annoy me sometimes and close-up changing what I hear. How do other cope with this ? Perhaps I should lose weight so they aren't so "tight" so that I can listen better ? Would that work ? What do you do to make sure the most important part of your setup - you - is working to full capacity ?

Hearing gets attention in the media, so why aren't talking about it more ?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8285518.stm "Two teenage students and their teacher say they have a web-based cure for the ringing in the ears experienced after exposure to high volumes."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8374910.stm "Sensations on the skin play a part in how people hear speech, say Canadian researchers.

A study found that inaudible puffs of air delivered alongside certain sounds influenced what participants thought they were listening to."

[Alex_UK]

All very interesting, Peter. I had a damaged ear drum as a child, and my right ear is slightly down on the left, but my brain seems to compensate with music (though I can't use my right ear on the phone.)

I've also noticed that if I play my music loud, there becomes a volume level where increasing it, my brain seems to cancel it out - and when I go back to what would be loud (rather than very loud) it actually seems quiet... weird.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I'm fairly certain my hearing is pretty good, but as much as I am sure having clean ears is important I also think that perseption of sound through the body are too! Enjoyment of the music is def a multi sensual experience, I'm sure the technical reasons for haveing a hifi that can produce frequencys beyond that of of hearing are completely legit, but I would also hazard a guess that it is important for our other sences too!

[Spectral Morn]

Well I am very sure my hearing is excellent (not had it tested though) and bar occasional wax build up, mainly in the right ear (?) I have no problems.

I have always worn earplugs when going to concerts (after the first I went to with no ear protection) so have not been exposed to ridiculous levels there. I have also on occasion had to wear ear protection in the cinema...I have always meant to take my sound level metre with me (but always forget to). I don't expose my ears to excessive noise elsewhere either...if I can help it.

I should get them tested just to see how good they really are.

As our ears are the most important part of this music listening hobby (after our brains) then we should all protect them.


Regards D S D L

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Do you not think there is any weight in what I say about other sences neil? I have said this before but I'm sure there is something in what rythm and music do to is on a level beyond hearing! The vibrations, the electromagnetic radiation(?) when so closely related to the sound? Maybe I'm just being a hippy?

[Spectral Morn]

Do you not think there is any weight in what I say about other sences neil? I have said this before but I'm sure there is something in what rythm and music do to is on a level beyond hearing! The vibrations, the electromagnetic radiation(?) when so closely related to the sound? Maybe I'm just being a hippy?

Yes I think its a sum of the total experience. The visual aspect(if you are at a concert), which can affect the quality of hearing to the negative imho/e..which is why I listen in the dark or with my eyes closed. This helps me to concentrate more totally on the overall sound and the elements. Feeling some elements of the sound may also add to the experience too, though for me too much of this is a negative and can be unpleasant.

There is no electromagnetic element...varying levels of vibration Yes, but not EM.


Regards D S D L

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Perhaps em isn't what I mean, I'm not good at science like! Perhaps it's just the vibration I'm talking about. I know sight is the strongest sence, when customers don't hear differences in suround sound set ups I turn the tv off, then invariably they can hear the difference! But I think maybe we are tuned differently, one can learn to distinguish between good and bad sound quality for eg. But do you think it is possible that other sences are more important or stronger to different people.

[Spectral Morn]

Perhaps em isn't what I mean, I'm not good at science like! Perhaps it's just the vibration I'm talking about. I know sight is the strongest sence, when customers don't hear differences in suround sound set ups I turn the tv off, then invariably they can hear the difference! But I think maybe we are tuned differently, one can learn to distinguish between good and bad sound quality for eg. But do you think it is possible that other sences are more important or stronger to different people.


Not sure Hamish...I haven't really thought about it much. For partially deaf or totally deaf people vibration through the body is vital to them, so I guess vibration must be for the hearing, just its not as obvious.


Regards D S D L

[REM]

Ear wax removal

CLICK HERE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxMuOE28HjM)

:stalks::stalks:

[Kris]

I thought this was interesting. A graph of three frequency response curves taken from different studies of actual human ears with a sound source at 0 degrees azimuth. (This plot includes the frequency response of the ear canals.

Dotted line: Wiener and Ross (1946). Dashed line: Shaw (1974). Solid line: Mehrgardt (1977).

Actually, I was quite shocked at how uneven the frequency response is. Which made me think. If we equalise a pair of speakers taking into account the frequency response of our own hearing, How music sound? Very good, or atrocious? My gut feeling is that it would sound atrocious because I think (correct me if I'm wrong) our brains already equalise the sound we hear in order to give as flat as possible a response curve.

Another point is that we all have different shape ears. So what one person hears will sound different to another person, due to different size and shape of ears. Going further on this train of thought, it would be interesting to compare, not just audio systems, but shapes and sizes of the listeners ears, and see if any pattern emerges. Do people who prefer the sound of valves have similar ears shapes that differ from people who prefer SS? When one person thinks a particular system sounds fab, but another thinks it doesn't, how different are their ear shapes?

Too many questions, not enough answers . . .

[Rare Bird]

I did sit down once, playing with my ears while listerning to music, finger behind each pinna, moving them forward slighty in intervals.As the whole job of the pinna is to catch sound waves, the sound got brighter as i moved them forward obviously catching the sound in a more direct way, as all people have different shaped/positioned pinna's not everyone hears the same tone! Where as headphones give you none of this.

[anthonyTD]

I thought this was interesting. A graph of three frequency response curves taken from different studies of actual human ears with a sound source at 0 degrees azimuth. (This plot includes the frequency response of the ear canals.

Dotted line: Wiener and Ross (1946). Dashed line: Shaw (1974). Solid line: Mehrgardt (1977).

Actually, I was quite shocked at how uneven the frequency response is. Which made me think. If we equalise a pair of speakers taking into account the frequency response of our own hearing, How music sound? Very good, or atrocious? My gut feeling is that it would sound atrocious because I think (correct me if I'm wrong) our brains already equalise the sound we hear in order to give as flat as possible a response curve.

Another point is that we all have different shape ears. So what one person hears will sound different to another person, due to different size and shape of ears. Going further on this train of thought, it would be interesting to compare, not just audio systems, but shapes and sizes of the listeners ears, and see if any pattern emerges. Do people who prefer the sound of valves have similar ears shapes that differ from people who prefer SS? When one person thinks a particular system sounds fab, but another thinks it doesn't, how different are their ear shapes?

Too many questions, not enough answers . . .

hi kris,
i agree, but there are certain traits that we will all find objectionable, or find pleasant, somewhere between those two extreme oposites there will be a rightness to the sound that will apeal to everyone.
A...

[Themis]

I think (correct me if I'm wrong) our brains already equalise the sound we hear in order to give as flat as possible a response curve.
I think so too.

Also, look at this :
http://www.ethanwiner.com/believe-treated.gif

taken from : http://www.ethanwiner.com/believe.html

[Kris]

It may be controversial, but to my mind, that guy talks a lot of sense.

Our present 'listening room' (lounge) is probably the worse sounding, most coloured room I've ever come across. It's the single most annoying factor when listening to music. And yes, the sound changes dramatically even when I move my head by a few inches.

But there are ways around it. Most importantly, that my brain tries to compensate for the room failings.

[DSJR]

The top end sensivity loss in my ears has made me even more sensitive to speaker directivity although I've now got the Spendors to an acceptable state.

The Fletcher-Munson (?) curves for average ear sensitivity served to dictate the old "loudness switch" effect on older amps. However, as our ears are changing as we age, this was hit and miss at the best of times - it's said that over 35, our ears are well down on our teenage years, but that will change from person to person obviously..

The BBC way of doing things was to retain a warm toned balance with a very gentle recess in the "presence/crossover" band, this allowing low volume playback to a high standard. Modern Tannoy DC's seem to do similar things, whereas "last year's faves" Zu Druids sounded great at high volumes but appeared to audibly shrink in size alarmingly at very low volumes (a huge over-simplification as there must have been other things going on as well). The current harbeth range is designed to work at lowish levels and the ear's natural characteristics have been taken into account too. Maybe this is one of the reasons why they sound so "real" on acoustic recordings..

[Marco]

What's happened to yer avatar, daddy-o? :)

Marco.

[Beechwoods]

My right ear distorts badly at high SPL's. I don't remember when it happened, but I spent a number of years in my 20's going to gigs 2 or 3 times a week, lots of small clubs with bad PA's. My ears are most intolerant of dirty systems - badly setup PA's, systems verging on distortion. Clean systems are tolerated far better - I'm sure this is common. Maybe I'm a Harbeth man :)

[DSJR]

What's happened to yer avatar, daddy-o? :)

Marco.


I'm a sad git Marco. Ollie was my little best-mate and it upset me too much to look at him. I thought I'd sober up with a Beogram 3000 from 1973 instead.....:lol:

[electric beach]

I love that quote on your signature Dave. I thought it sounded like Leonard Cohen, was most surprised to find it was from the B-side of lilly the Pink!