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Can audiophiles control Tensor tympani

D

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A part of the human population can voluntarily control the tensor tympani, a muscle within the ear. Contracting this muscle produces vibration and sound. The sound is usually described as a rumbling sound http://bit.ly/2Clijef

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XpanD

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...huh, I wasn't aware this had a name either. I can only do it on the left side, though.
 

solderdude

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I have no control over it and assume it functions as it should be.
Works as an automatic sensitivity control in my case.
Had no idea people could deliberately control it.
For those that can ... what is the effect one can obtain ?
 

williamwally

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Funny I thought that was normal too. Takes me a partial yawn to do it; sounds like midbass rumblings.
 
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D

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I have no control over it and assume it functions as it should be.
Works as an automatic sensitivity control in my case.
Had no idea people could deliberately control it.
For those that can ... what is the effect one can obtain ?

Envy those who can, guess you can acquire golden ears by exercising the tensor tympani. I’m sure @amirm has this ability ... ;-)
 

solderdude

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But... For those that can ... what is the effect one can obtain ?
 
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D

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Seems it’s old news, sorry for that ...

”Some individuals can voluntarily produce this rumbling sound by contracting the tensor tympani muscle of the middle ear. The rumbling sound can also be heard when the neck or jaw muscles are highly tensed as when yawning deeply. This phenomenon has been known since (at least) 1884.”
 

Tks

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But... For those that can ... what is the effect one can obtain ?

Play this back at 2X speed, in mono, and without the artificially sounding echo-y effect(I can collapse any audio into mono with a button press from my RME, but removing the echo-y aspect I wouldn't know how to do without Equalizer APO for example, but it's nothing too serious, as the sound is still pretty accurate to what I hear when I flex that muscle). That's all that occurs, with more effort exerted, it just becomes louder.

If you need an actual demonstration personally, just stick your fingers in your ear and pay attention to the rumbling sound from what I presume is some sort of occluding effect. (This can also be achieved with IEM's when you get a seal)

I feel this also happen out of my control when there is an extremely loud high frequency sound being played (like deafeningly loud for example), it seems to be what I assume is a defense mechanism against damage to such sounds.

 

nugget

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But... For those that can ... what is the effect one can obtain ?

They can produce a rumbling sound inside their ears. That's it, really.

I find it slightly tiring and can't keep it up for more than a minute or so. There's a subreddit devoted to the ability, but it's mostly just a parade of postings from people who are amazed to have just learned not everybody can do it.
 

XpanD

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Sticking your fingers in your ears as Tks mentioned sounds similar to me, though in my case the muscle rumbling seems to sound both a little deeper and a fair bit louder. Nothing particularly shocking, though it's kind of neat.
 

jMay32

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Sorry looks like this is an old post!

I can do this, and was just googling why and what it is when i stumbled on this website.

Ive been able to do this as long as i can remember and its become so second nature i often find myself w/ song stuck in my head and "singing" the song in my head w/ this rumble sound.
 

fpitas

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Sorry looks like this is an old post!

I can do this, and was just googling why and what it is when i stumbled on this website.

Ive been able to do this as long as i can remember and its become so second nature i often find myself w/ song stuck in my head and "singing" the song in my head w/ this rumble sound.
Welcome! Besides scientific stuff we also talk about bizarre things. BTW I can do it for short periods. I never would have called my ears golden or audiophile lol.
 
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GXAlan

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Now that this was re-bumped, it would be interesting to see what the percent of ASR readers can do this. It’s supposed to be 10-20% of the general population but can attenuate bass below 200Hz. (edit: it seems to be 43%)

Makes you wonder if any of this has to do with the Harman curve bass boost or if things be blame on sighted bias can be attributable by this. They say this has some evolutionary advantages (if you attenuate the bass, the midrange/treble naturally sound louder). Maybe if your eye sees speakers that your brain expects to have a lot of bass you will subconsciously preemptively attenuate the bass a little.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378595522000788
 
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fpitas

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Now that this was re-bumped, it would be interesting to see what the percent of ASR readers can do this. It’s supposed to be 10-20% of the general population but can attenuate bass below 200Hz.

Makes you wonder if any of this has to do with the Harman curve bass boost or if things be blame on sighted bias can be attributable by this. They say this has some evolutionary advantages (if you attenuate the bass, the midrange/treble naturally sound louder). Maybe if your eye sees speakers that your brain expects to have a lot of bass you will subconsciously preemptively attenuate the bass a little.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378595522000788
I can confirm, often when I come home and sit down to listen, until I clear it the bass is attenuated a bit. It's a frustrating thing when you're trying to voice a speaker :facepalm:
 

tmtomh

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I never knew this was an actual thing with a name - cool!

I can do it by yawning deeply or just opening my mouth/jaw as wide as it will go.I just experimented a bit, and it turns out I don’t need to have my mouth open much; I just need to pull my lips back as far as I can with my mouth open slightly.

Seems to be easier and louder on my right side.
 

poxymoron

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I never realised that this was a thing and I presumed that everybody could do it. I can do it with both ears. I doubt that there's any connection but I can also move both of my ears, a really quite ridiculous amount, together or independently. I'm thinking now that I might be the chosen one.
 

Rick Sykora

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Have been able to do since I was young and never thought much of it. After researching a bit more, seems it is a known phenomenon and the wikipedia description is spot on. The footnotes and the ScienceDirect article do not add much. @GXAlan if this is some recessive trait (could not confirm your 10-20% claim), might be interesting to poll the membership to see if we are representative.

If the impact to lower bass hearing is accurate, guess am going to have to give up hopes of becoming a reviewer! ;)
 
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