2. misc-audio
  3. 1225950186

The future of my hearing

One day I know my hearing will not be as keen as it is now. I'm not forecasting a huge hearing loss but I realize highs and lows may not be as dynamic and intelligibility may be an issue. The sad fact is I, and all of you, will have some hearing loss. I wonder if my hearing change will affect my equipment likes or my love of certain types of music. For those of you who experienced a hearing change, how has a hearing change affected your listening pleasure? How did you have to compensate for hearing changes? Also, if your listening pleasure diminished did you change your system? Sorry if this topic seems negative but it is, with a few exceptions, reality for all of us if we live past our late 60's. I want to know what others have experienced.
rayd
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
I'm 79. Trust me, you compensate. I'm enjoying my system more than ever. Dave
elevick
2,636 posts
 
Just got my dad really nice headphones-it was like a new lease on life.
bgordon829
23 posts
 
At 79, I am severely impaired hearing-wise. But, bless the
spirits, my hearing-aids are compensating for music under
live as well as "reproduced" conditions. I may not hear
the overtones of the highest order but I know when I am
listening to good vs excellent stereo systems. I even went
to Denver to listen to "the best speakers on earth" and
enjoyed the experience knowing that I had pretty good ones
myself. FYI, Avantgarde Duos driven by Lamm ML2.1 monos.
We audiophiles educate ourselves to pay attention and to
hear better, I think. My guests have blank expressions on
their faces and questions in their eyes. I dare not tell
them how much I put out for this equipment. I am convinced
that this is not "placebo" effect.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
When I was a kid, and I mean pre-teen, I could occasionally hear the ultra sonic alarm in some stores. This huge ringing that I could comb-filter away sometimes by turning my head. This tells me hi-freqency / short wavelength.
By the time I was 20, I couldn't hear 'em to save my life.
I guess things haven't gotten any better.
Maybe, I'll take out one of those frequency stepped test discs and see where the upper limit is today. But do I want to know?
Ag insider logo xs@2x
dbphd
1,620 posts
 
I haven't stayed current with hearing loss literature for decades, but the contention when i was studying auditory processing was that, absent noise-induced hearing loss, hearing loss with age is not expected. The evidence for this expectation was adduced from measurements among populations relatively free of noise exposure. Unfortunately, most of us are exposed to sufficient levels of noise to induce some hearing loss. The classic case is a notch around 4 kHz. Firearms are a major culprit.

db
More to discover