Don’t want to freak you out…

Start there anyways. Wait till the wife starts moving the balance  to the left or right and you ask, "Does that sound off"? Oh NO it's perfect. I have to go make sure I didn't have a stroke. Females!

Ferengi ears, "The Lobes" they work.

Regards

Here you go:

Jeez, @oldhvymec snap!

Yup I’m patient.. LOL

They use to make a foam ear. It was for audiophilers. They were a porous foam. They use it around mics and tweeters to tame nasal, wind, and off axis noise, too.

It was called Big Ears, I think..

Think about poor wrestlers or boxers. Ears bein’ chewed on..

That’s what I want. Someone to box my ears and make them look like peach cobbler.

Actually that sounds pretty good.

When we used get into bar fights we always kept clear of the guys with cauliflower ears and flat noses. 

@ william53b:

     I’ve been working on some implants, that will save you the trouble.

     Coming soon, to an Otoplasty Specialist, near you.

I have dinky ears, and they are almost flat against my head. I know when I’m listening to music with someone else, we are hearing two completely different systems.

I found that by placing foam earplugs behind them while I listen, bringing the back of the pinna out and forward it makes the music sound so much more notably better. Cupping my hands behind them works even better, as if I’m straining to hear something far away. But how the heck am I going to enjoy a cocktail? 😉

I wonder about how the quality of each persons pinna and it’s ability to direct sound into the ear canal affects comments here. People who’s systems sound lifeless should try this to see if it’s the system or their ears.

@ Rodman99999

😂

You know you haven’t been to a site in a while when, all of a sudden, there are images. When did this happen?

@noromance 

Wonder of the inventor started their research with a Dixie Cup cut in half? If they weren’t so ugly there’d be useful. They would be much more hip with a bow on top through. These babies and a mask to go with them? Smokin! 😂

I've designed some like the foam ones mentioned, tried different materials and whatnot, but never got around to making them, since the soft foam plugs work so well. The hearing muffs, plastic shell, that I cut the fronts off of and removed the shielding material, did a great job of blocking ambient noise and making the sound more dynamic and cleaner.

Oh, and for me it's actually about ¼” out and forward, not 1/8th.

Kidding aside, I imagine ebony or cherry would sound better than foam. Too much damping with the squishy stuff. 

Sam Tellig had a great thing in Streophile years ago about big behind ear flaps...

Works for this guy.....

All the best,
Nonoise

I take my hat and glasses off too. Sometimes I forget. That messes with stuff.

I flip my hat around backwards too and tip my head back a bit. Collects pretty clearly. No high back chairs. BUT I have used 2" foam 12-14" wide just the height of my head with great result in a lively room. Just lean against a piece 24" long or so. I suppose cardboard ears could work..

Modify a Burger King Crown, turn it upside down and go from their. :-) 

Regards

Like to attach my cats ears/horns to my head. The good thing is these horns are adjustable, rotate as needed.

They make a two-part material for making moldable in ear hearing protection that has neutral sound. Harder material, wood as an example really bumps the upper mids and highs.

Open cell foam is lousy, as @noromance said.

A wide pillow would work as @oldhvymec said if your head rests on it, with a semi reflective surface applied to the sides, something as minimal as paper. I use a memory foam pillow behind my head , since my system is set up in the room width wise, that really helps with the acoustics since the rear wall is about 16-18” behind my head.

I use "Clicks" reading glasses, and just taped a piece of cardboard to each side behind my ears angled in about 30°. That works well, so I now have an unobtrusive way to mount something that I can do some experimenting with, and the added benefit of already being accustomed to them being there. Does this make them reading-listening glasses?

Just buy any MBL speaker the tweeter,and midrange is the same fantastic omnidirectional speakers if need be just buy2 nice subs that’s my plan.

even off axis they are special ,and their  126 with stand is a excellent speaker with dual midBass drivers a bargain at its asking price 

@audioman58 

This problem cannot be solved by audio equipment. The enhancement in sound is not at all like something that can be done by bumping treble. I know, I have tried using a equalizer in the past.

Ear Speakers

@ rodman99999 - What? No earrings?

Here we go!  For this exact issue I found a vendor and paid the really reasonable price for a couple of pair of EarGlasses:
https://earglasses.com/

The things really work.  Easy to put on and take off and I am most pleased.

Cheap and functional!

My hearing is not great so when I'm in a crowded restaurant trying to hear someone across the table, I cup my ears. It works really good. And, yes, I've done it with music with excellent results as well.

For those who would use wood, I'd guess if you contact Cardas they'd build you some out of that fancy Myrtle wood, but they wouldn't be cheap. I'm sure the sound difference wouldn't be subtle. 🎶

I've often wondered if the different tastes/preferences of different audiophiles for different gear/brands wasn't due in large part to ear size and orientation.  If true, how silly when people would criticize another for their different preference as something attributable to ignorance or poor taste.  Maybe some of us have silver ears, others platinum ears, others golden ears, etc.!

And more or less neural connections. 

Maybe some of us have silver ears, others platinum ears, others golden ears, etc.!

Earglasses, for sure! But in restaurants, just use fingertips. 

oldheavy, at the risk of inflating your ego I'm going to say you are the best poster on AG.  Peach cobbler - LMFAO!

I wonder if Vulcans’ protuberances permit the perception of pianissimos with full emotive content ?

I think these mechanical solutions are a bit archaic. I would suggest AI implants that are complete with tone and a loudness controls.

Weren't some chair backs designed with sound enhancement/ isolation in mind?

Possibly but passiveness may preclude passion.

I wonder if Vulcans’ protuberances permit the perception of pianissimos with full emotive content ?

Put headphones on behind the ear. You will be amazed. I have hearing lose and wear hearing aids but fortunately for me, my roommate in college is one of the best ear doctors in the country. The hearing aids are state of the art and highly customizable so music is still with me.

On occasion when I don't feel like wearing the aids I put the headphones on behind my ears and the results are fantastic. Also have hands free for cocktails.

@nonoise Now that's a very effective "audio tweak". Perhaps the best one!

@dweller -

          "What? No earrings?" (maybe: $9.99 and up, depending on stones)

     How about: Immersive Crystalline Regalia Aural Augmentation Pod Tuning (ICRAAPT) for $2999.99 and up, depending on MY stones?

                        btw: A firm discount, if that's you in your avatar!

@jimmy2615 

This is the point I was hoping to get to here. If I have to do it because of dinky ears plastered to the side of my head, anyone who wants to take the entire "system" into account, or that is just a bit scientifically curious, should try changing the orientation of their pinnas, cup their hands behind the ears etc.

I can say, after a bit of playing around with throw pillows this morning, that if I wasn’t going to remodel our family room so that I can rotate my system, the best solution for me, without spending a fortune on room mods, would be a high wingback listening chair that suppresses rear reflections.

I realized when I got back into sound systems that I never got the maximum out of my older systems because of this, and used an equalizer to bump up the highs.

But the fact behind this little musing is that since no two ears are the same, meaning  that no two listeners are the same, no one is hearing a particular system the same. So all the equipment talk and preferences are based on opinion biased by the listeners body.

Do we all hear about the same? Yep, but we hear differently enough so that we all should realize that, given a "perfect" stereo source, all of us would notice slight differences in the sound of the system. How a system sounds to that group would look like a bell curve of variations in sound, and the middle 60% or so would pretty much agree on certain characteristics.

But for me, I'll now consider that someone may not hear something I do or do not in system sound.

And of course, if you have "normal" ears and enough money that spending a tidy sum on your system and room modifications, this is fairly irrelevant to you, unless your just curious, and want to have the ability to cut others some slack from time to time.

Sorry, but this thread kind of shocks me. Of course, cupping your hands behind your ears will enhance your hearing of sounds directly in front of you; all of these products merely replicate that age-old trick in a hands-free way. Great for eavesdropping on conversations across the room, or for making out dialog on TV if you have old ears and brain and have come to that point where it's difficult to filter the signal from the noise. But for stereo listening? Are you kidding?! I've read many sales pitches for devices that claim to enhance the soundstage which suggest you try cupping your hands behind your ears in order to see what product X (an amplifier, an omnidirectional speaker, a channel crossfeed headphone processing circuit) is intended to cure! Note that the "Earglasses" product advertises as one of its virtues that it "blocks noises that come from your side or your back." You DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS if you want to enjoy the illusion of instrumental placement, soundstage width and depth, "air" around instruments, and even accurately perceived instrumental timbre.

@william53b -

      "You know you haven’t been to a site in a while when, all of a sudden, there are images. When did this happen?"

     The posting of pics is a recent AudiogoN enhancement.

     If you have a pic or gif, online w/a url: enter that link and either should appear, when previewed or posted.

     There’s also a pic choice in the functions bar, above.

     Thus far: I haven’t gotten that to work, on my laptop.   I’m missing something, apparently!

                         Have fun and happy listening!

@rodman99999 

Thank you for the info. 👍

@william53b -

      You’re welcome. 

@snilf

Yeah, you do want to block certain noises from the side and the back if your in an imperfect room. You’re just not reading the posts here, you’re not getting it.

Your response indicates that you have not read any of the posts, and is an auto-knee jerk bleat.

Science up.

I don’t see or have any issues , and yes the speaker type can have a direct correlation how you hear it a standard direct reflecting speaker has the most potential issues with reflection ,I have room panels to the rear ,up behind, and on first reflection ,as well as in front rug for bounce reflection all this helps  with hearing without all these added reflections , the MBL Omni directional speaker is the easiest for the ear to except for it generates all around and  if you ever heard them setup properly would be amazed.

All these years... who knew?

@dreas 

Exactly! Now, look at Alfred and block all but the faintest hint of ears.

That's me? 😂

                  And now: the multichannel (6.0) version:

https://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2012/10/23/president-obama%E2%80%99s-odd-new-campaign-poster

I enjoy concerts, but the outdoor variety where those about you are too involved in telling someone by varied means x 30~50ish...

...thought a well-selected foam shell, somewhat like that of an abalone mollusk.  The shape could conform to ones' head....

So you look like Deadmau5 without the ears for the show.
You will witness worse at the show itself by others. ;)

Anything to drop Dottie's dB on my left 5~10 would be worth a shot...

...and happy to see others mulling this over...👍😎

@nonoise ...poor guy, must be one of the 'old 901 collective' whose front driver cooked unnoticed....spent their later years in 'forced reflection'....*tsk*