Your 2 ears hear differently!

[Cbdb2]

First time I heard this. But I was confused till I heard it with my right ear.

https://www.hear-it.org/Your-ears-differ-

Do songs with vocals hard left sound different when you turn your headphones or are vocals perceived as music? What about dialogue and music panned hard left/right?

Do you think this effect has an impact on your system setup?

 

[Frgirard]

It's the life and i live with without issues.

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

What about Star Trek fans with their 'final frontier'? I've got tinnitus in my left ear, but not so's it affects my listening enjoyment. I use headphones most of the time. I don't notice any differences, but I can still hear the tinnitus 'sound' in quiet parts of music, but only if I try to - otherwise, no problems.

 

[Andysu]

First time I heard this. But I was confused till I heard it with my right ear.

https://www.hear-it.org/Your-ears-differ-

Do songs with vocals hard left sound different when you turn your headphones or are vocals perceived as music? What about dialogue and music panned hard left/right?

Do you think this effect has an impact on your system setup?

Do a youtube video of yourself so I can see and maybe agree, youtube video.

 

[RayDunzl]

If I reverse my headphones, I don't remember any difference other than placement of sounds.

An orchestra or string quartet sounds odd, but pop or jazz doesn't usually have a standardized layout to bother me.

As for my ears, they seem to be evenly deflicted, and I don't plan to test them as that may bias my unbiased bias.

 

[DVDdoug]

Do you think this effect has an impact on your system setup?

No, because "the system" is supposed to reproduce sound the way it was produced or performed.

And I really don't notice anything "odd" when I've had headphones on backwards or otherwise had left & right reversed.

Some people with some hearing loss in one ear will re-balance the sound (especially for headphones) but I think it might be a problem because it's not natural for them and their brain has to re-adjust.

Some headphone listeners like to use crossfeed (some blending of the left & right channels) but that's for a better, more natural, "soundstage image", especially with hard-panned sounds. (Of course with speakers, the sounds blend in the air.)

...Maybe we could start a new myth about why those old Beatles recordings have vocals on one side and instruments on the other.

 

[MRC01]

This is a well known "thing". We humans aren't perfectly symmetric. My eyes see slightly differently, my ears hear slightly differently. Especially musicians (even classical/acoustic players) have different L-R hearing acuity due to playing their instruments hours per day. For example it's not uncommon for violinists have slightly worse acuity from their L ear. The Mark VII analog wetware computer compensates for the differences so we don't have to notice unless we want to. But we can if we want, which can be educational and fun.

 

[Blumlein 88]

In the days prior to air conditioning in vehicles, most males had a slightly worse hearing on the left ear from wind noise over time. Especially evident among truck drivers. In the UK of course it was the right ear.

Also, I've noted when I had worked a few years in an office with the phone on the left of my desk, I could hear phone conversations better in the left ear. I think that was from better processing of the lofi phone source due to a large difference between ear/hours on the phone. There was a research paper about that at one time, but I couldn't find it just now.

 

[Slayer]

Yes, they do indeed. I am surprised this is not common knowledge seeing that we are on an audio forum. Just goes to show you, if you pay attention, you'll learn something knew every day.