Don’t want to freak you out…

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.

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?

@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.

@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.

@rodman99999 

Thank you for the info. 👍

@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.

@dreas 

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

That's me? 😂

Even if you consider everything to be "normal", it's a fun little exercise that tells you how different every person hears their system. Ears stick out? Pin 'em back while listening, or if not so much, move them forward, as a little experiment.

You'll be surprised at the difference it makes, and how subjective listening is and what makes for a good system.

I would have to say this is why I like KEF's, ultra articulate; and Magnepan's, omni directional sound. Also my preference for solid state. And that with box speakers I always add a rear firing driver. My favorite for this driver is the Fostex: FE168EZ 6.5" Full Range Sigma Series.

And if you are a slave to other peoples technology, just let this last observation go, K?

@rocray 

😂😂🤣🤣🤣

I have tried to steal my wife’s ears hile she is sleeping, but got tired of getting slapped! 😉

@dadork 

No, but now I can’t think of them separately. A poetic ear worm? 😂🤣😂

@termite 

Oh, I'm not joking. That people would obsess over every aspect of their system and dismiss the physics of anatomy seems odd to me.

Of course our brains compensate as best they can for minor physical differences. But, if people do alter the position of their ears and say they can’t hear the difference, that would be odd.

Just like when I was posting back and forth with Miller Carbon about how, as we get better systems and pay serious attention to listening, we improve our listening skills and improve our hearing. Audiofiles, excuse the pun, are looking for details that other people wouldn’t possibly notice in music.

I'm an artist, and I can tell you for certain that I see things the casual observer does not when looking at something intently. 

By bumping my pinna out a bit, I hear the highs that our systems tend to beam, in my case, by my ears, not into them. So the Flare Audio Ltd little focusing devices would be good for me when watching tv, and my wife and I wouldn’t have to argue about the volume. But I wouldn’t use them when listening to my system, for the same reason I wouldn’t use hearing aids, too much coloration.

Thanks for the note on Flare.