Audiophilia and the Deaf.

[awkwardbydesign]

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It is not often appreciated that the deaf cannot tolerate loud noises. It was explained to me as being like a radio tuned to a distant and poor station so the volume had to the turned right up -click and pops become sources of great irritation. So, if the ears' internal volume control is turned right up in compensation any loud bang turns into pain.

We had a hard time convicing the youngsters.

I often listen late at night at low volume, and it seems that concentrating on the music raises my noise floor. I get an increasing hiss, but it's gone again next day. So far!
And why do you try to convince youngsters? They already know everything worth knowing.
I'm 63, but a 7-8 years ago I had a quick hearing test, and while my wife's hearing dropped off in the HF, mine was still rising at 8kHz, which is where they stopped the test! That gives me some explanation of why I hear things some others don't.

[lewis]

I also have some high frequency hearing loss in my right ear, which is probably due to working in noisy environments. A recent visit to the docs to have my ears syringed confirmed the appearance of some scar tissue on my right ear-drum, which could also be the result of an ear infection, but it does not affect my enjoyment of listening to music. For a long time i thought i had a room balance problem, because when sitting centrally between my speakers, vocals were always off to the left, but now i usually sit to the right of centre so vocals appear central! I think the point-source drive units of my Tannoy Turnberry's help here, as the tonal balance remains the same wherever you sit, so if you have any hearing loss get yourself some Tannoy dual concentrics!

[DaveK]

Hopefully this is sufficiently on topic to be relevant. I have the same sort of tinnitus (high fequ., low vol.) but in both ears. I also have 'Industry related hearing loss' at both ends of the spectrum in both ears but somehow I manage to hear differences when swapping bits of kit (or convince myself I can ). What puzzles me though is how those with greater hearing loss in one ear can get any real impression of sound stage, or am I misunderstanding something? I would have thought it was pretty much like listening to only one speaker .
Dave.

[lewis]

Hopefully this is sufficiently on topic to be relevant. I have the same sort of tinnitus (high fequ., low vol.) but in both ears. I also have 'Industry related hearing loss' at both ends of the spectrum in both ears but somehow I manage to hear differences when swapping bits of kit (or convince myself I can ). What puzzles me though is how those with greater hearing loss in one ear can get any real impression of sound stage, or am I misunderstanding something? I would have thought it was pretty much like listening to only one speaker .
Dave.

I can understand what you're getting at dave, but no, it's not like listening to one speaker, as i still hear sounds on the right of a soundstage. It's just centrally placed images, vocals especially, that appear left of centre when i'm sitting centrally. It's just high frequency loss in my right ear, bass and mid are the same as my good ear!

[awkwardbydesign]

I would think the brain compensates for the ear's defects. I notice it takes a little while to re-acclimatise to my system after listening to another. Then it all fits together again. My wife has demonstrably worse hearing than I do, yet I rely on her to tell me if there is an improvement. Obviously her brain is superior to mine (it says here).

[Pete The Cat]

To the original point. I strongly recommend wearing earplugs to rock gigs. The people on the stage often are.

Pete