hearing better, with 'damaged' hearing

[lord_bunny]

I've had tinnitus for 10+ years and although it's severity comes and goes, there has never been a moment where I wasn't hearing something that another engineer or musician in the room was. In fact I've pointed out wierd rumble in mixes that were being worked on by some one with way more experience and who is plainly "flat-out" more talented and engineer than I. If i'm watching t.v. with my brother in law, I can hear his baby start to fuss before he does. I also have a great vertical jump.

I agree with U B K that there must be something to this constant obsession with sound that enables us to overcome a bit of deterioration. Howeve, if I had this attention to detail now coupled with the ears of my youth, that'd really be something special!

[Crashdown]

Finally I find pro's, that experienced and talk about this issue!!

I've been through ups and downs with my ears... sometimes it's fatigue... sometimes it is nerves... tinnitus... bad sleep...

But guys... I found the holy grail of good hearing!

I do Sports! I swim, I run, I work out... It's the real thing!

One day I decided to quit smoking, so I went to the gym to try cleaning my lungs doing sports. Of course I began to feel a lot healthier, smelling better, tasting better, but the best of all: Hearing better!!
The first time I mixed live, after 3 months of sports, I could hear with detail every damn frequency mixing a pop/rock band in a huge bad-sounding Hall! And I made a Crappy P.A. System sound really good!

I really was amazed with myself, that day, so I can only recommend to all you couchpotatoes, get your fat asses out of your producer seats and practise somekind of sports!!!

Oh and by the way: Quit smoking! I think that helps too...

Take care,

Crash

[doorknocker]

Crash,

I think you're totally right. Jogging always does wonders for me, be it for my hearing, abiility to concentrate and general well-being.

In fact, I should do it more often!

[vandertone]

Originally Posted by Crashdown

Finally I find pro's, that experienced and talk about this issue!!

But guys... I found the holy grail of good hearing!

I do Sports! I swim, I run, I work out... It's the real thing!

One day I decided to quit smoking, so I went to the gym to try cleaning my lungs doing sports. Of course I began to feel a lot healthier, smelling better, tasting better, but the best of all: Hearing better!!

Oh and by the way: Quit smoking! I think that helps too...

Take care,

Crash

Amen to all you said.
I´ve been thru this too(still into it) and really got the feeling that my perspective changed especially when I quit smoking.
Hearing is also and always judging on base of your experiences and also
interacts with your personal well-behaviour.
Would be interesting though how many of the top-engineeers smoke.
Mirko

[jdg]

Originally Posted by Crashdown

But guys... I found the holy grail of good hearing!

I do Sports! I swim, I run, I work out... It's the real thing!

i think you're on to something!
i've been exercising daily since ive been done with the treatments.

hmmmmm

[AMIEL]

Originally Posted by warhead

I wonder what long term (and short term) effect hard drives are having on us all. No matter where I am or what I'm doing, there's that high pitched whine.

War

Warhead you look younger!!!!!!

[u b k]

if you want to hear better, drink a half gallon of water a day. cut back or eliminate caffeine. same with refined sugars. same with wheat.

the above will unclog your body, reduce inflammation of soft tissue, and drain all of the mucous you don't even know is gunking up your sinuses, preventing your inner and middle ear from venting completely. the fluid and pressure in your canals dampens the sensitivity of the cilia and the responsiveness of the drum.

you know how you hear when you have a cold? most people are like that all the time, to a lesser degree, because of the food they eat and the water they don't drink.

if you do nothing else, just pound the water. it changes everything.


gregoire
del
ubk
.

[jdg]

i've been pounding water too!

jeez!

hey all u ppl with "normal" hearing.. this stuff works!

[uncle duncan]

One thing about hearing loss is, as the hair cells go, the brain tries to make up for the loss by working harder to comprehend the information it's getting. I forget what they call it, but along with tinnitus, you get this thing where soft sounds are amplified - like the noise in a restaurant, or the noise of the air conditioner, or a screaming kid....
Another cause of hearing loss, or aggravation after hearing loss is extablished, is the noise of driving in a car. Road musicians who play every night and then drive in a car every day are giving their ears no chance to rest.
Having different earplugs for different situations is helpful - musician plugs for lightweight stuff and 30db plugs for loud stuff. One can live with relatively severe tinnitus/loss for years on end by protecting what's left. You get serious about it when you realize 'what's left' is all you've got, and it ain't ever gonna get better. (Perhaps this is why many big mixing engineers do most of their work on small speakers at low volume.)

[midnightsun]

The only time I hear stereo is in my dreams and I awaken with a good feeling.
When I am awake it is as hard for me to remember what it is like to hear in stereo as it is for me to imagine what it is like for an insect to see with compound eyes.

About 30 years ago I developed painful, distorted, pitch shifted hearing in my left ear. Things got worse and music became agonizing. I stopped playing and listening to music. Plan B-- went to medical school and became a surgeon. After 5 years it was determined that I have a neurovascular compression problem-- abnormal vessels entangling and compressing the acoustic nerve. After a couple of operations I was cured of the pain and distortion but was left with No hearing in my left ear.

This was actually a God send as I was able to start enjoying music again without the off pitch, distorted, painful ear. I joined a band and started back into recording and have been having fun ever since. And I can't under score FUN enough. My world is mono. I have noticed that I am more sensitive to phase problems than I was with stereo hearing. I sure as hell am not going to be able to make a living doing stereo mixes so will just have to stick with my day job.

I have truly spent less than a hour over the past 30 years feeling sorry for myself. As a surgeon I listen to music for hours on end in the operating room. When I come home I spend hours in my studio. I can buy any piece of equipment or instrument I wish -- but I would trade it all for an iPod that would send a stereo signal to my brain & soul. Music is magic-- mono or stereo. Humans connect through music. It brings me great joy to see people spending time pursuing music. It is like beholding a mass of bodies moving toward the Holy Grail. I find comfort in the music of our young, even thought some of it contains anger. Music is a powerful vehicle to communicate what otherwise couldn't be said. Music is revolution and evolution. Music is love and stability. I think that is should be a requirement for all politicians to listen to a diversity of music from around the world for no less than 4 hours a day.

[LudicrouSpeed]

Originally Posted by shangoe

its strange. i made a hearing test with my girlfriend. my hearing was much better on the scale. but she can hear crazy things i never hear. she can hear people conversation in a restaurant 5-7 meters away, tv program in my neighbors flat. but when i show her 2 vocal-takes sche could not find the diference. maybe my ear is calibrated to totaly diferent things.

I Totally know what u mean, my ex hears conversations in loud public areas clear as a bell and it scares me, but she can't hear anything in a mix...

Originally Posted by lucey

funny!

not to derail the topic but as i've said in hearing loss threds - after a long day you can heal your hearing (to some extent) overnight with this same phenom. just turn down some classical music to the lowest possible level you can, and the ears will retune their range to the tiny dynamics while you sleep. calming the flapping drum


"great big moving target" ... nice one bob

"listening is a discipline, hearing is natural" ... right on as well

That's very interesting, do you have any reference material about that?

Originally Posted by kats

I think critical listening is a learned dicipline. As far as your age affecting your hearing, I think you adjust naturally.

Just stay away from those loud low frequencies - those are the ear drum stretchers that kill your high frequency response!

Are the low frequencies really the ones that will damage your hearing more than high ones? That's interesting because for years I've always FELT like its the high's that are harsh and sound like they are doing damage at high SPL's...

Interesting thread, my hearing is fine at this stage, but I'm always wary of preventing damage.

[FETHead]

Originally Posted by kats

I think critical listening is a learned dicipline. As far as your age affecting your hearing, I think you adjust naturally.

Just stay away from those loud low frequencies - those are the ear drum stretchers that kill your high frequency response!

+1

Glad somebody brought that one up

[Barbary Ape]

^^^Yup a couple of years ago I had my ears tested and found out that my right ear hears louder than my left and I have learned to adjust my hearing through the years and my panning is pretty much good nobody has complained yet, also a correlation meter helps.

[Everyman]

Originally Posted by u b k

if you want to hear better, drink a half gallon of water a day. cut back or eliminate caffeine. same with refined sugars. same with wheat.

the above will unclog your body, reduce inflammation of soft tissue, and drain all of the mucous you don't even know is gunking up your sinuses, preventing your inner and middle ear from venting completely. the fluid and pressure in your canals dampens the sensitivity of the cilia and the responsiveness of the drum.

you know how you hear when you have a cold? most people are like that all the time, to a lesser degree, because of the food they eat and the water they don't drink.

if you do nothing else, just pound the water. it changes everything.


gregoire
del
ubk
.

Well said. And try not to smoke. Believe it or not, it really does affect your entire ENT area.

I agree with your original post, and I'm definitely in the same boat. I'm the loudest drummer I've ever known, and for years I didn't use plugs, because I'm also a lead singer and had trouble with pitch whenever I used them. I've since learned to adjust, out of necessity. I'm down perhaps 3 dB centered at 6 k in my right ear. So I don't HEAR as well as I once did, but I LISTEN way better. I hear things I never could have heard before. Training is everything.