I took a hearing test today. It's not that I'm having trouble hearing, if certain people just wouldn't mumble. I think my wife must have super hearing cause she always says I need to turn the TV down. Restaurants must add noise so people can't talk to you so you will eat faster and they can serve the next group. ;-\
Left ear-- down 15db to 3kHz, 50db at 4k, 80db at 6K, and 8k. Right ear-- down 10db to 3kHz, 30db at 4k, 50db at 6k and 60db at 8k
Right ear is actually 5 db better from about 1KHz down.
While in the quiet room about half way through I started to hear a little tinnitus which confused things a little bit.
I'm a little surprised to see the sharp drop at 3khz, I thought that would be 6kHz or 8kHz.
Part of the reason I went in was because I thought my high frequency was improving, I started to hear things like my phone ringing, but it wasn't my phone. I even heard a boat alarm from 60 yards, I ask 4 males if they heard that alarm, none could pickup on it, yesterday I ask a female, she did hear it although could not decide which of the three boats in the area it was from. The alarms been on for about a week now, but the boat is on a hoist so it won't sink. To this point, when I thought I heard my phone ring, (and this is usually when the phone is inside the boat and I'm outside) I just figured I heard some other ringing, lots of boats and people with phones around the marina. Now, I'm wondering if the ringing was in my ear. Happened about six times.
Any, just wanted to see if others had their story or some talk about their Audiometry graph, hearing or hearing aids.
Elson is right, everyone's curve is different as well as perception. I need to go in again and have them re-tweak my high-end... the audiologist has my high-end so "peaked" everyone has a lisp >:-} ...Jim Thompson
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| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
I think wiki has a separate page on Fletcher-Munson, why ? Who knows.
Thing is in the audio industry it is accepted that at higher levels the cur ve flattens out. There is a hell of alot to this. does it flatten out becaa use of the brain/ear having such good compression ? It takes ten times the power of an audio amp to sound twice as loud. howevewr that is not a functi on of the atmosphere, speaker or whatever, it is a physiological thing.
I do not know whether the phenomenon is caused by the brain, in the cochlea , or muscles tightening up around the eardrum. the last one is pretty unlik ely I would think becuase that would not have low frequency response improv ing as the drum would move less on the "bigger" waves.
The fluid in the cochlea does not likely change vicosity dynamically, and e ven if it did I doubt it would tend to flatten the response. Do the hairs p ossibly stiffen up ? That wouldn't seem to do it either.
It is a fascinating subject and it might become moreso for me as my hearing deteriorates. And I do not believe this delayd damage crap. When I was you ng I went to concerts, band practices in small areas with thousands of watt s going on, gunshots (which I am pretty sure are alot worse than any loud m usic ever could be because of their quick attack).
However I do remember having headphones from hell. I had a pair opf headpho ne flat from 2-22,000 Hz, and that is a 2, not a 20. I forgot the exact num bers but with the sensitivity they rated, and the power handling, I figured they did 126 dB. That is quite a bit. They were indeed LOUD. They were alw ays loud because in most amps that just have a resistor going to the jack i nstead of a separate amp, the resistor drops less when the impedance of the headphones is 45 ohms instead of 8. But that wasn't enough for me so I ran them straight off the speaker line.
That was like thirty years ago and up until about three years ago my hearin g was really good. I stopped going to rick concerts, sat in on alot less ba nd practice. (back then a wine glass was sitting in front of a speaker and started melting from the sound, not Ella Fitgerald, but you know it was lou d) All this happened to my ears in the last few years, until then I oculd h ear conversations in other rooms, and like fifteen or so years ago I could still hear the flyback in a TV set. (NTSC - 15,734 Hz) That's pretty damn g oo dfor someone who is pushing forty years old. Actually some TVs were damn annoying.
But then I got sick, exposure to mold was the cause. That is when everytihn g happened including my cararacts. I have studied alot about nutrition and found out many things. When you are young, your body is very good at absorb ing nutrients from what you eat. This changes as you age and causes most of what we attribute to age, like loss of hair, teeth, senses.
I know most of you guys are older than me, abd probably didn't abuse your b ody as bad. I have been stabbed, cutup, shot, drank my ass off, did a bunch of drugs in the past, smoked literally tons of weed, used to smoke you pac ks of full lfavor cigarettes a day (to the tune of about $13 a day, every d ay) and for some times in my life did not eat right. The only thing that re all went was my knees and back. Had a bunch of those problems. Changed the way I eat and alot of it cleared up miraculously.
But back then it did not affect my hearing or sight.
So, I almost would like to know the exact mechanism of hearing loss. I thin k it is in the cochlea myself, I just don't have the data to prove it. It s eems logical. That stirrup and hammer or whatever in there, if it breaks it is over. though some people can still hear with a punctured eardrum, it al so degrades it quite a bit. which brings us back to that psyshoacoustic iss ue.
I think your body/brain can adapt so far. Like when you record your own voi ce, even if you got perfect measuerd rsponse, you will not sound like tyour self to you. when you talk, there is a certain amount of fedback through th e skull, but not all that much. Makes for a little more bass I would say. B ut when you listen on speakers, the sound has gone through the environment TWICE now. Maybe headphones are different, and if you record in an anechoic chanber...
But like you cna't tickle yourself, and of course if you spend time in a gr een room and then walk into a white room it looks a bit purple, your body, or brain actually, adapts. Like auto white balance on a camera.
The problem comes when there is no more adjustment range.
If you really look at the design of the human ear, it is really no wonder t he response is not flat. They don't copy the design for microphones do they ?
That's my take on it, the imperfection is out of the adjustment range.
A sure sign your hearing is going... many people start to mumble. I don't know how they can tell that your hearing is getting worse and I don't know why they would feel it is best to mumble.. but they do.
Yeah, I'm the same way. My house is in a neighborhood that has gone commercial over the years and there are lots of noises at night. For a while I was hearing a low rumble that was very persistent and would make it hard for me to get to sleep. I took my car out one night and found an asphalt machine running at 2 AM... the sort of thing that is bigger than my house... about a half mile away as the crow flies.
Then I noticed I heard the same sound at my lake house where there are times I can almost hear the spiders walking it is so quiet. At first I thought it was the fridge, but when I checked it wasn't running. Only then did I realize it had been in my ears all this time. I can't hear it if I am moving about, only when lying down and quiet. I also have some ringing, but this noise is very different. Maybe just ringing at a much lower pitch...
Oddly enough when I thought the noise was from someone or something else it bothered me greatly. Now that I know it is just in my ears it isn't a problem, I just ignore it. :)
I understand that too much sex makes you go deaf >:-} ...Jim Thompson
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| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
FWIW, my father started to lose hearing, he claimed everybody was mumbling. Doc wanted to prescribe a hearing aid, because this is a 'normal' old age effect. He hates add-ons, can't even wear a watch they always stop. he found another doc who said it's an aging ear wax effect. The stuff hardens in the ear dulling the high frequencies, the solution get that stuff out. So he went for an 'ear flush' first he could hear gently sounding water then as the gunk came out, he could hear like a loud rushing whooshing water sound! After that, his hearing was back to normal, at least everybody quit mumbling.
Small sad note, the ear is susceptible to fungal infections, so make certain the doc's equipment is super sanitized!
My dad went through that same thing. On another sad note, the audiologist never looked in my ears. On the other hand, he said this is a preliminary test, if you come back we will do a complete evaluation. Mikek
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