Tag Archives: hearing

Seeing Is Hearing

I had my hearing checked the other day. Surprisingly, and despite what my brain tells me, my hearing is great.

While waiting for my appointment, I browsed through hearing-aid literature. It is more amusing than you might think.

For example, Oticon–a high-end hearing-aid manufacturer–claims to have put Artificial Intelligence into its devices. Amazing how they were able to do it but billions of dollars directed at similar efforts have not.

Also, there was a brochure for GN Resound. Here is my favorite part:

ReSound Hearing Aid

My Hearing

I have a bit of hearing loss in my right ear. I am not sure how it happened, and since I realized it all of a sudden, I question whether it is from listening to music, as most people suggest. For the record, I usually do wear earplugs, now. Bummer.

In any event, SD recommended I take a look at a chapter (“The Musical Mind In Context: Culture And Biology”) in The Musical Mind : The Cognitive Psychology of Music (Oxford University Press, 1986), which she read for a music psychology course, because of my recent interest in the effects of records, compact discs, etc. on music. My argument is its affect has been of degree and not kind. Audio recording is just another type of recording technology, which has been around for thousands of years in written form.

The chapter outlines the importance of writing to music and how it has changed during time. It is interesting and a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to know more about this top.

But the part I found most interesting (and relevant) is the discussion of how music and speech are separated into different areas in our brain. This strikes me as odd since both are sounds, but the research on this matter is thorough and so I am happy to move forward on the assumption that they are correct.

More specifically, though, is that damage to the left brain or right ear is less important for your ability to handle music than it is for for your ability to understand and carry out speech. Might this be the case with me? I can hear non-speech sounds, whether it’s sounds outside or listening to music, but have some difficulty hearing people when they talk to me. Or is this not what the research is focused on (i.e., am I referring to my hearing but the research centers on interpretation)?

Headphones And Hearing Loss

I have tried to ignore the trickling of reports about in-ear/bud headphones causing hearing loss, but an article from Information Week, which I consider to be a decent source, requires a discussion on the matter.

News outlets and my Mom have been reporting lately that kids (these days) are going deaf because of their use of these types of headphones. You might even see reports that hold Apple’s iPod to blame. Initially, I thought the physical design of these products were somehow coming into contact with and damaging cilia. That would be bizarre, but would certainly mean these headphones cause deafness.

Instead, it is the sound produced by these headphones that cause hearing problems. This explanation makes much more sense, but has little to do with the headphones. Headphones do not cause deafness, sound does. It does not matter whether it comes from an aeroplane, tree falling in the forest while you are standing nearby, over-the-ear headphones, or in-ear headphones, if the sound is loud enough and/or you are exposed to it long enough, you will suffer hearing loss.

So why are people confusing headphone design and the powers of sound? The in-ear headphones moves the source of the sound (e.g., the speaker in the headphones) closer to your body’s <2000 hearing parts. Instead of the speaker being outside of your ear, the speaker is much closer to the sensitive hearing parts. That increases the volume of the sound, even if your volume knob remains the same. In fact, the study written about in the Information Week article notes:

“Insert earphones can boost the signal by as much as six to nine decibels. That’s about the difference between the sound of a vacuum cleaner and a motorcycle,” said Dean Garstecki, a professor at Northwestern in a statement. “It’s a significant difference.”

This suggests people are not turning down the volume of their headphones to the same level they or people in general once used. Instead, people are listening to music at louder levels. Rather than say this and work on figuring out why people are listening to music louder (in this day and age), they choose to unjustifiably blame headphones design.

There are a number of problematic statements in the article, but this one comes in first:

Not surprisingly, rock and rap are the most dangerous, since they’re typically played at a higher volume than, say, classical or jazz.

Yes, rock and rap music are dangerous, and now it’s not just because it will lead to increased crime rates.