Can left brain- right brain balance affect what you hear?


We all know that some people hear a stereo audio image depicting a sound stage wide and deep with specific location of instruments and singers on one extreme and some hear only left - right - center on the other extreme.  The rest of us are somewhere in between.  A lot of this is probably due to expectation bias, but one other explanation occurs to me.  I think it is partly due to left-right brain balance or dominance.  The stereo recording process produces an illusion of the sound stage and is a creation of your mind.  The right brain (creative side) is known to be involved with the melody of music and the left brain (analytical side) is known to be involved with the rhythm of music.  In my experience creative people i.e., artists and musicians, etc. are more right brain dominant and more inclined to hear the detailed image.  Technical people, i.e., engineers and builders, etc. are more left brain dominant and are less inclined to hear the image details.  It occurred to me that if you focus on suppressing left brain activity the right brain may become more dominant.  By focusing on suppressing your tendency to follow the rhythm of music the image seems to "bloom" and become more obvious.  The difference is subtle as most things in this hobby are.  I tried it and I think it works.  Try it yourself and see if it works for you.  After you have experienced this, it will be much easier to do going forward.  I'm able to turn the rhythm focus on and off at will and hear either rhythm or melody or both as I please.

 

On the other hand maybe I shouldn't have had that last drink😊.

scottdog

 It occurred to me that if you focus on suppressing left brain activity the right brain may become more dominant.  By focusing on suppressing your tendency to follow the rhythm of music the image seems to "bloom" and become more obvious.  The difference is subtle as most things in this hobby are.  I tried it and I think it works.  

For sure you are right if instead of describing acoustic factors by "expecting bias"  you suggest that we must learn how to control our listening and attention focus...

Here you are spot right.... 

my best to you....

We all know that some people hear a stereo audio image depicting a sound stage wide and deep with specific location of instruments and singers on one extreme and some hear only left - right - center on the other extreme. The rest of us are somewhere in between. A lot of this is probably due to expectation bias, but one other explanation occurs to me. I think it is partly due to left-right brain balance or dominance.

 

You confused and conflated two interesting subject together ...

First , timbre perception, bass clarity and impact, dynamic, imaging, soundstage and the listerner envelopment/source width ratio or LEV/ASW ratio, all these acoustic factors and cues had nothing to do with the two hemispheres of the brain...

They are acoustic and psycho-acoustic factors we can and may control at will in a room by passive material treatment and the right balance between absorbing and reflective and diffusing surfaces... But also by mechanical control of the room with Helmholtz resonators ans diffusers...We can also add Schumann generators and ionizers...

Then all these materials and devices has nothing to do in a direct and in an immediate way with, placebos, deceptive illusions, and the ratio of dominance between the two hemispheres of the brain ...Sorry...

 

 

Yes there is a a role for the two hemispheres dominance ratio...

Yes bullshit has been written about it decades ago...

The most known specialist about this question is NOWADAYS a scottish neuropsychiatrist i suggest you must read ... Iain McGilchrist...

His two main books are big one, the last one is 1300 pages long... 😁😊

This is a link under this post that will resume his discoveries and thesis in few minutes ...

The two brain hemispheres are linked to two complementary modalities of the attention process; Focusing on details or on specfic KNOWN spot and peripheral attention or focusing on the UNKNOWN around us or in between the known regions...This divided brain then has nothing to do with the feminine versus the masculine etc and all the psycho babbles which are more than wrong because they are only partial distorted simplistic truths...

 

Even if the two brain ratio and modalities of function can influence our listening mood, and our focusing abilities they cannot EXPLAIN NOR DESCRIBE all the real acoustic and psycho acoustic factors at play when we listen sound music in our room ...

 

Acoustic is the more UNDERESTIMATED factor at play in audiophile experience...

All audio thread reflected an almost if not complete ignorance of acoustic power a vast minimization of his huge improvement potential...

What i just say is not only my opinion and personal experience, it is a scientific fact...

But marketing conditioning had directed the attention , like Pavlov conditioned dogs, on the ONLY associated signals of excellence: gear design brand name, and  not  acoustic control at all...

At best acoustic is perceived to be a SECONDARY addition to the gear...

In reality it is the gear choice which being important for sure  is at the end  the secondary factor compared to acoustic/psycho-acoustic method and experiments...

No speaker at any price can beat his room said an acoustician...

i discovered it the hard way...

i will never read audio magazine again... Nor upgrade....

Guess why? 😁😊

 

 

My best to you for this interesting question thread...

With my deepest respect....

 

 

 

 

I don't doubt there being an analytical side and a creative side at all. I just don't think there's some kind of paywall between the two that determines how we take it all in. It's processed on the fly, honed by evolution and unique to each and every one of us.

All the best,
Nonoise

@thecarpathian 

Brain dominance maybe not BUT suffer a detached retina in your dominant eye and get back to us about myths.

The left/right brain dominance business is a myth. Both sides of the brain constantly work together. Except for the idiots I used to work with. Their brains signed divorce papers.

Most of what you say is true and makes sense, I believe. But I've never had any problem with turning focus on rhythm (or anything other component of music) on and off - depending on how the recording is done, I can concentrate on each of these components, as well as how one component goes with one or more other components of the music - endless variety of ways to explore, especially if the music is very layered.