16 replies to this topic

[rhythmboy]

I've just been reading an article that made an interesting observation about hearing loss - maybe some of you were aware...

In studies related to hearing loss from extended exposure to loud noise (above 100dB) it was shown that the greatest damage occurs in the first 15 years of exposure, but the average person doesn't notice the damage (i.e. they can't hear any difference).

It's in the period 20-30 years after exposure that the speech frequencies start to die away and we finally realise we have 'hearing loss'.

Something to think about if you're under 35

Although I suspect that musos and engineers may notice it earlier because we are 'working' our ears actively in the regions above 8kHz (which seems to be a benchmark audiologists use as the 'ultra high frequency' range)... are we tweaking those hi-shelf EQ's and not really knowing what we're doing?

Thoughts on this?

[rhythmboy]

Oh, and by the way - it's proven that smoking accelerates hearing loss.

I'm quitting.

[Spectrum]

Love that Hi-Freq Shelf!  :-[

Ever switched ears when on the phone?

Sound weird? Sound different?

Another glaring example of damage done?

[rhythmboy]

^ Yeah, I reckon. Sometimes I don't know if it's my imagination or what sometimes.

I swear that I hear slightly different top end if my jaw is stressed or relaxed, if I have headache, etc. Pressure on the muscles of the outer and middle ear can contribute I imagine.  I reckon it can change from day to day...

..but is it my imagination?  :

[tribalchris]

no, physical changes in the head-al region definitely have an impact on how sound is heard - not sure how having a headache would affect it (maybe the underlying cause rather than the headache itself), but things like cleanching your jaw definitely affect the timbre of the sound as you perceive it.

In a related note, one thing which I have noticed time and again, but which I have never received a good explanation of, is that when I yawn, the sound I hear mid-yawn is at a different pitch (lower, I think, though I can't remember right now). It can be mighty annoying during those late night production sessions!

I can understand that by yawning, and closing off part of the aural canal, the sound is travelling through a different medium, which affects the speed of the waves, and thus the pitch. My problem is this: if the waves themselves are slowed down, then why, when I stop yawning, is there not a "sync shift"? That is, if the sound waves have slowed down, then surely somewhere along the line I'm not only losing pitch, but actual musical length - to get back to a "normal" state, surely I'd have to skip ahead a little in the song to "catch up"? (But this doesn't seem to happen)

If anyone's got a good answer you'll be solving something that's had me stumped for years!

[Sid]

My hearing changes drastically while I'm yawning and I'm mean when it's a big yawn I can't understand what people are saying to me. I have learnt to be carefull when asking someone to repeat what they said because I was yawning. I always thought it was something to do with air going in and out of the head through the ears. But never knew for sure.

Was talking to a guy the other day who believes it's impossible to be a live sound engineer and not get severe hearing damage. I don't know, is it possible to work as a full time live sound engineer (which probably means 8 nights a week) and not do your hearing damage?

[antonio_hancolotykevitz]

Quote

which probably means 8 nights a week

Damn! :dead: Well those foam earplugs are completely useless cuz they screw up our perception of sound which makes it impossible to mix with. I was told by an experienced engineer about these special customised earplugs which are designed to attenuate all frequencies evenly which gives you the same mix, just @ a safer listening level. They have to be custom-made to fit your ears though. Sounds expensive but probably well worth it @ the end of the day!

[Sid]

I bought some fancy ear plugs from a music shop once. I always wanted to get some but during a summer job in a factory cutting foam I decided to invest. The dude said they were special. Well, they weren't molded to my ear but they were made of plastic and silicon. The dude said that I could twist the little thingy the adjust the level of cut. What I figure he really meant was if I pull it out of my ear a bit, more sound comes through hehe!
Not saying anything bad about factory workers, cause I was one... but I got the funniest responces to these small ear plugs. The best one was when everyone had this sad comiserating look when they saw me, I found out later that they thought it was for some brain opperation or something. I figured it out when some guy asked me "so you have to wear them all the time right?" haha!

[Its Too Loud]

Yeah there are ear plugs out there that will attepmt to cut out harmful freq.. but i found that the overall volume of ones i have tried are also affected. A good friend of mine wears a pair while working in Alberta's oilsands, and he swears by them, brought em home i tried em, weird tho, they also ran him about 180.00 canadian..... Also don't know how many people have heard the romour.....or maybe its true(seems true enough to me, or maybe i've been brainwashed), but alcohol can effect the way you hear low end sound. it almost seems to not allow you to pick out low tones... maybe thats why DJ's who get fucked up seem to blow more subs??and so another forum will rise through the ashes of many blown woofers, and the DJ's shall arise anew...

[dylab]

clenching my jaw changes the pitch of my tinitus up a fair bit

[groovewell]

Yeah I try and look afer my ears, any time clubbing or even going to loud bars I will always wear earplugs. I like my music (as you can tell being on this site) so I want to be able to hear it as it should sound just not at a damaging level. I bought a pair of custom plugs that are moulded to my ears and they are awesome. They are more comfortable than cheapo chemist jobs and the don't muffle all of the high frequencies as much. much flatter response so the music sounds o so sweet.

[rhythmboy]

A builder once had me try a pair of super noise-cancelling earmuffs he had.

Big closed-cup rubber sealed types with mics on the outside, speakers on the inside and an attentuation pot on the right earpiece. The pot phase-shifted the mics so in phase you got max level to the headphones and pushing out of phase you got stuff-all - in between you could set your own 'level'. Brilliant because it was frequency-neutral - just worked on input-output.

We'd all look like goofs wearing them at the disco tho  :cans:

[groovewell]

I am sure they could have something similar built into a hearing aid. discrete enough... would be pretty cool.

[Mojoe]

Glad to hear about the smoking and reducing hearing loss, as I just quit......

I've heard about the custom made ear plugs but I believe they're pretty expensive!  You can buy ear plugs from a gun shop, that will when frequency is triggered the earplug cuts off at that frequency.  You can still hear everything else around you.  I have used the foam ones for four years when working and found them useless.  I still had to wear earmuffs over the top of them to reduce the noise level.

MOJOE

[groovewell]

yeah my custom ones cost about $185 which included the hearing test and consultation.

Mojoe... are those ones you speak of electronic?

[music_equals_sanity]

Another reason why I don't aim to expose my ears to harmful damage. Although, my love of music has effected me in tempery ways. Such as, anyone had the buzzing for hours after a live performance? The buzz you hear when you lay down in bed. just a reminder that we are all enjoying killing our hearing.