ontopic: earplugs

On 2012-02-23 07:27, KEVIN_ wrote:
'Outdoor gatherings give you the option to adjust the sound. Not loud enough? Move up closer. Too loud? Drift back until you have the spot.'

Respect, brutha, but I object to having the volume level dictate where I dance.

My big idea is to have a crisper sound at a lower volume. This would save and heal everything - that's what I think.

I talked about it with a sound guy and I was aghast at what I saw as a certain lack of speaker technology for this. Anybody can help with this?


..


'I sometimes wonder how much our minds make sound feel good even if the volume of different things is the same. Is it possible that sounds we like do less damage and those we dislike are quicker to hurt? That sound preposterous, but sometimes our minds and brains work in these kinds of ways. Maybe related in some way to placebo effect?'

Well, what you wrote corresponds to my understanding of neuroscience, which tends to be introspective as well as fact based for I am fond of inspecting my own brain.

Normal and not preposterous.. For, our brains process things we like/don't like differently, this I know as fact. Hearing, if I remember correctly, is processed by the central nervous system including vast parts of the brain. From that, sounds we do or don't like will have wildly differing impacts on us, being processed in entirely different brain regions.

'My problem with earplugs is that they pack my earwax in and then the ringing really gets going when I leave. Does the ringing have anything to do with hearing loss, or are the interconnected by being caused by loud noise, but not necessarily having one means having the other? It takes a long time for the ringing to go away, and I have to not be exposed to loud noises.'

I think the ringing betokens hearing loss.

Bleak outlook, I know.

The next thing for me is to throw out the notion that hearing damage 'is' irreversible .. I'm relatively sure (from experience) that that is just hokum. There are these hairs or cilia in our ears that mustn't get hurt, this I know. Cells do repair themselves, however.

'So far my hearing is good, but I think the next time I have it tested I'll try the sound booth and keep the numbers to compare to older tests when I was younger.'

So good luck on your next physical!