Can we trust our ears?

[derp1n]

Beer is good, but weed is better.

 

[watchnerd]

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.

 

[Blumlein 88]

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.

 

[watchnerd]

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.

Basically after a really bad sinus infection, my eustachian tubes got filled with scar tissue and sealed shut.

This meant my ear drums wouldn't vibrate any more.

Short term, in January, they put plugs in both ears and sucked out a bunch of fluid. But the problem would recur without corrective measures.

So in April I went under general anaesthesia and they cut out the scar tissue and kind of Roto-Rootered my eustachian tubes back open again.

After surgery, the audiologist tested and I was back to normal hearing. But for a few weeks everything was LOUD due to my brain having to retrain itself from when I was mostly deaf.

The ear drum plugs fell out a few months ago, which lead to some tinnitus and weird Helmholz resonances at bass frequencies while the little pinholes healed.

Now everything is back to normal.

 

[watchnerd]

Oh, also:

When my ear drums weren't vibrating, I apparently learned / my brain retrained itself how to hear (at least a bit) mostly via bone conduction.

Which was weird.

 

[Blumlein 88]

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.

 

[watchnerd]

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.

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.).

 

[Blumlein 88]

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.).

A book I think many audiophiles might get something out of is "Reading in the brain".

https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Brai...36390875&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+in+the+brain

Its been out a few years so some info might not be cutting edge. What I think is pertinent is by focusing only on reading, which isn't a natural activity to the human animal, he investigates and explains what is known about how the brain pattern matches. The pattern matching is one of the big things some people say biggest thing the brain does. To see how it can manage that for something fully artificial like reading is educational about how the brain functions with other senses. In reading the signal from the eyes goes through layers that pattern match or filter for only certain details. It can refine its own function with experience. It feeds back from one level to lower levels. Then puts those patterns into our speech area of the brain. Each part is rather simple in essence, but done in a malleable and parallel manner quite powerful.

 

[solderdude]

Most think we hear with our ears ... ears are just fragile yet nifty 'microphones' in some ways. It is the brain that does the interpreting and 'hears'.

Knowing this and knowing your own hearing capabilities/limits, through your own research, will give you more insight than reading up on research of others, no matter how interesting that may be. It just takes up a hell of a lot more time.

Had been in the bad sinus way for almost a year (about 15 years ago) and went away slowly by itself. Now more prone to have hearing loss when I catch a cold. Had my ears rinsed a few times as well (left ear only, ear canal is more narrow there).
I 'regularly' check my own hearing myself.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

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.

 

[andreasmaaan]

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 find when tweaking mixes that almost any changes made late at night whether sober or not are regretted the next morning. Have found that the best process is to be creative while intoxicated/sleep deprived, and to take care of the technical stuff in shorter bursts in sober daylight, taking breaks for the ears to relax and reset.

 

[watchnerd]

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.

Well, that's mixing work and pleasure. Two different things entirely.

 

[Sal1950]

Beer is good, but weed is better.

Neither compare to some 1970's blotter acid or white powdered mescaline.

 

[watchnerd]

Neither compare to some 1970's blotter acid or white powdered mescaline.

 

[NorthSky]

Is there another thread pretty much exactly the same title, here @ ASR?
99% certain.

• https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...st-your-ears-by-tom-nousaine.1669/#post-41555

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Well, that's mixing work and pleasure. Two different things entirely.

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.

 

[Sal1950]

WHAT ???

 

[watchnerd]

WHAT ???

https://prohbtd.com/the-bizarre-history-of-psychoactive-toads

 

[Sal1950]

https://prohbtd.com/the-bizarre-history-of-psychoactive-toads

You had a bizarre way to catch a buzz.

 

[watchnerd]

You had a bizarre way to catch a buzz.

Oh, I've never tried it.

But I saw some people do it once at Burning Man.