As an additional note:
Having recently lost 70-80% of my hearing for 10 months, and then having it surgically restored (and getting it measured at both ends of the process) was a profound object lesson in both the variability of hearing and psychoacoustics for me.
Oh man, sorry to hear that. Had no idea. Care to share some minimal amount of details on what happened? If not that's fine, can't blame you for wanting to keep your privacy.
Our ears are very trustworthy, and yet we also should know our limitations.
That does sound weird. I worked for someone who had the same thing happen to them. Had the same procedure. He still hears fine now some 8 or 9 years later. So it will likely stay fine for you.
While nothing like what you've had, I had a bad earwax problem once. Work was so hectic it was a couple weeks before I could get to a doctor to take care of it. Basically I couldn't hear out of the left ear much. I remember once they got it straightened out my ear had adjusted like you are saying. I was hearing the fabric of my shirt rub against itself as I moved. Shoes squeaking when I walked. Other little sounds you normally don't hear. It took about three days for it to re-adjust near normal.
In any case glad your hearing is okay now.
A book I think many audiophiles might get something out of is "Reading in the brain".The way the audiologist explained the psychoacoustic adjustment goes something like this:
Our hearing perception is so massively influenced by our brain that, if it didn't filter things out, we'd spend a lot of mental energy processing and paying attention to things that are actually distractions and not important for either our survival (listening for tigers / people creeping up on us), socialization (human voices very important to pay attention to), and our reproduction (babies crying hard to ignore). Our brain seems to have some mean state of "good enough" hearing that is below what we're capable of, which frees up our mental processing power for higher order thoughts that are more advantageous.
I forget where I read it, but the theory about why music sounds better when you're on cannabis is because your mind has fewer wandering thoughts / isn't multi-tasking as much when you're stoned, which causes more mental capacity to be devoted to sensory input processing (also why food tastes better, etc.).
When I was building/tweaking loudspeakers, I found that any changes made while not totally sober were regretting and deleted the next morning. Perhaps there's a general message there.I'm always impressed with how much better my listening skills are when I'm not sober.
(totally serious)
So, no, I can't trust my ears, because so much of my perception is obviously influenced by how my brain is processing sound.
When I was building/tweaking loudspeakers, I found that any changes made while not totally sober were regretting and deleted the next morning. Perhaps there's a general message there.
When I was building/tweaking loudspeakers, I found that any changes made while not totally sober were regretting and deleted the next morning. Perhaps there's a general message there.
Neither compare to some 1970's blotter acid or white powdered mescaline.Beer is good, but weed is better.
Neither compare to some 1970's blotter acid or white powdered mescaline.
Let me put a finer point on it. One glass of wine or beer at dinner meant that the evening's work would be useless, even if pleasant.Well, that's mixing work and pleasure. Two different things entirely.
WHAT ???
You had a bizarre way to catch a buzz.
You had a bizarre way to catch a buzz.