Folks,
In this forum we all know that certain brand name components are classified as superior than others. In the like of capacitors, resistors, wires and cables etc.....
Has any one ever know or consider his/her dust mites, ear wax, length of hair etc... inside the ear channel contribute to a lot of colouration to your Hi End DIY sound reproduction systems too?
May be my brand of ear wax give the transistor components some smoothing effect that make them sound more like tubes?
Just Fruit for thought...hm.. may be I should check in to see a ear specialist first before I judge another piece of amprefier.
Regards,
Chris
In this forum we all know that certain brand name components are classified as superior than others. In the like of capacitors, resistors, wires and cables etc.....
Has any one ever know or consider his/her dust mites, ear wax, length of hair etc... inside the ear channel contribute to a lot of colouration to your Hi End DIY sound reproduction systems too?
May be my brand of ear wax give the transistor components some smoothing effect that make them sound more like tubes?
Just Fruit for thought...hm.. may be I should check in to see a ear specialist first before I judge another piece of amprefier.
Regards,
Chris
Pass DIY Addict
Joined 2000
Paid Member
The wax in my ears gets dry and a not uncommon occurance is that it wii break loose and touch the drum causing a BUZZZZZ especially with bass. It drives me bonkers but it is only temporary. I think this has happened 5 times, always in my left ear. For those of you that listen loud enough that you can hear it through your bones, leave the wax in there.
Thatch
Thatch
One of my mates whom used to go to rock concerts a lot has himself a damaged ear drum in his left ear(a pin hole in the diaphragm). Now he can not listen to loud music or around noisy environment anymore, for it will cause him hearing a high pitch noise that will last a couple of days.
I used to love that 12 inch 45 speed single Into the night by Phil Colins very loud too. When he roll the drums my chest felt like being punched and my eyes would blink with the drum beat involunatory. Don't do that kind of stuff anymore, may be it is due to age and lack of wine; and also my current system an not put out such power anyway.
Take care of your high end component (Your Ear); you can not really replace it.....
I used to love that 12 inch 45 speed single Into the night by Phil Colins very loud too. When he roll the drums my chest felt like being punched and my eyes would blink with the drum beat involunatory. Don't do that kind of stuff anymore, may be it is due to age and lack of wine; and also my current system an not put out such power anyway.
Take care of your high end component (Your Ear); you can not really replace it.....
Ear Specialist
I have always wanted to have my ears tested to find out if everything is in good working condition. And most importantly to find out how low and how high I have the ability to hear. This way I can always blame my own ears instead of the equipments!
My question is this. Can one go see a ear specialist (or some specialist) without going through the family doctor? I was told that family doctor would not refer one to a ear specialist unless he/she can identify that there is something wrong with the ear. Also, does medical insurance cover this sort of thing?
I have always wanted to have my ears tested to find out if everything is in good working condition. And most importantly to find out how low and how high I have the ability to hear. This way I can always blame my own ears instead of the equipments!
My question is this. Can one go see a ear specialist (or some specialist) without going through the family doctor? I was told that family doctor would not refer one to a ear specialist unless he/she can identify that there is something wrong with the ear. Also, does medical insurance cover this sort of thing?
Re: Ear Specialist
one of my clients is a hearing specialist -- i just booked an appointment with her. the tests they use only check up to about 8-10k. i was good, except for one ear that has a big reverse spike near the top of that range from a bad 3M landing that put a nice hole in the eardrum (healed real nice -- a month later the doctor said he couldn't see that it had happened). I learned to listen around that thou (5 years in the trenches at a really good hifi store).
I paid for it out of my own pocket ($50 USD?)
dave
fcel said:
one of my clients is a hearing specialist -- i just booked an appointment with her. the tests they use only check up to about 8-10k. i was good, except for one ear that has a big reverse spike near the top of that range from a bad 3M landing that put a nice hole in the eardrum (healed real nice -- a month later the doctor said he couldn't see that it had happened). I learned to listen around that thou (5 years in the trenches at a really good hifi store).
I paid for it out of my own pocket ($50 USD?)
dave
You can not really clean the inner canal yourself, it is too dangerous. I have heard of some thing like a paper roll up join and attach to one end is some kind of herb or something that burn slowly and suck up all craps from the ear. I am not talking about using your ear to smoke pot!
Cheers...
Cheers...
Hi Bill F.,
You are correct in that colloidal silver is usefull - though more so for eliminating subtle infections that are causing over production of wax, and that olive oil is a good wax softener.
Sustained high SPL will also cause wax over production.
And a cotton tip is indeed usefull for removing this, as I have done for decades.
The final arbiter IMO however, is to compare reproduced sound to outdoor natural sounds, especially the fine and high pitched insect sounds at night.
It does not really matter how perfect your hearing is in absoloute terms, more important to compare the cleanness and air of a systems sound to the cleanness and air of those natural outdoor sounds.
Of course if you have nil response above say 10kHz, then you are missing sounds that other people can hear readily, but for YOU this does not matter because you can never hear them.
Hearing ability is also a practised and learned skill, and as Bernard (Dice45) commented in an earlier thread, more importantly between your ears is a learning and self programming DSP/FFT/TDR stage that continues to improve with age, knowledge and experience.
Of course, if you are pleased with the sound that you have, that is audio nirvana.
Eric.
You are correct in that colloidal silver is usefull - though more so for eliminating subtle infections that are causing over production of wax, and that olive oil is a good wax softener.
Sustained high SPL will also cause wax over production.
And a cotton tip is indeed usefull for removing this, as I have done for decades.
The final arbiter IMO however, is to compare reproduced sound to outdoor natural sounds, especially the fine and high pitched insect sounds at night.
It does not really matter how perfect your hearing is in absoloute terms, more important to compare the cleanness and air of a systems sound to the cleanness and air of those natural outdoor sounds.
Of course if you have nil response above say 10kHz, then you are missing sounds that other people can hear readily, but for YOU this does not matter because you can never hear them.
Hearing ability is also a practised and learned skill, and as Bernard (Dice45) commented in an earlier thread, more importantly between your ears is a learning and self programming DSP/FFT/TDR stage that continues to improve with age, knowledge and experience.
Of course, if you are pleased with the sound that you have, that is audio nirvana.
Eric.
hey, i can relate to some of this as i have titnus wich is a constant ringing in my ears and have had it for a very long time. it is most likely the result of abusing my hearing with loud noise from race cars/bikes loud music and guns. i cant hear dead quiet and cant hear anything above a certain khz(not sure where on the scale it is) because it drowned out by the ringing. theres no cure or treatment for it although a doctor put me on valium once to try and calm my inner ear, this didnt stop my ears from ringing but i also didnt care anymore 
inspite of this i still love music and still like it loud sometimes but not to ear damaging levels any more. i mostly prefer quality of volume and am learning to listen better.
i see alot of youngins driving around with really loud thumpin subs in their cars and wonder where their hearing will be in a few years and would maybe like to wanr them but...........when i was young i wouldnt listen to anyone and thought ear plugs or muffs were for sissys. sorry if i got a little off topic .
later, mike
inspite of this i still love music and still like it loud sometimes but not to ear damaging levels any more. i mostly prefer quality of volume and am learning to listen better.
i see alot of youngins driving around with really loud thumpin subs in their cars and wonder where their hearing will be in a few years and would maybe like to wanr them but...........when i was young i wouldnt listen to anyone and thought ear plugs or muffs were for sissys. sorry if i got a little off topic .
later, mike
Interesting factoids:
The wax in your ear is almost pure cholesterol, and the type (soft/sticky or hard/flakey) is being looked at to judge female suseptability to breast cancer.
For those suffering from Tinnitus there may be treatment soon
<a href="http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/Shows/2002.03.24.htm">GOOD NEWS FOR SUFFERERS OF TINNITUS</a>
<i>Tinnitus sufferers are tortured by continuous buzzing or ringing noises in their ears, even when they are experiencing total silence, and the sounds cannot be blocked out.
Most people experience the problem at some time in their lives, usually after prolonged exposure to loud machinery, or music, and in these instances the problem usually goes away by itself, once the source of loud noise is removed, over the ensuing hours or days.
But for 5% of people the problem becomes chronic and debilitating. Researchers have recently begun to scan the brains of tinnitus sufferers and, surprisingly, have found that the part of the brain that responds to frequencies corresponding to the rogue sounds are disproportionally large compared with the area devoted to hearing other frequencies.
A similar distorsion effect is seen in the part of the brain controlling the lost limbs in amputee patients. In this situation the area of the brain representing the lost limb seems to change allegiance so that it begins to respond to other, still intact, parts of the body instead.
Many such patients report that they can still feel their lost limb, although the sensations they experience, which are often painful, are derived from other parts of the body, and this experience is described as 'phantom limb syndrome'.
Experts at Heidelberg's Central Institute of Mental Health have speculated that tinnitus is the phantom limb pain of the auditory system and therefore might be amenable to the same drug treatment used for the control of phantom limb syndrome after amputation.</i>
Regards
James
The wax in your ear is almost pure cholesterol, and the type (soft/sticky or hard/flakey) is being looked at to judge female suseptability to breast cancer.
For those suffering from Tinnitus there may be treatment soon
<a href="http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/Shows/2002.03.24.htm">GOOD NEWS FOR SUFFERERS OF TINNITUS</a>
<i>Tinnitus sufferers are tortured by continuous buzzing or ringing noises in their ears, even when they are experiencing total silence, and the sounds cannot be blocked out.
Most people experience the problem at some time in their lives, usually after prolonged exposure to loud machinery, or music, and in these instances the problem usually goes away by itself, once the source of loud noise is removed, over the ensuing hours or days.
But for 5% of people the problem becomes chronic and debilitating. Researchers have recently begun to scan the brains of tinnitus sufferers and, surprisingly, have found that the part of the brain that responds to frequencies corresponding to the rogue sounds are disproportionally large compared with the area devoted to hearing other frequencies.
A similar distorsion effect is seen in the part of the brain controlling the lost limbs in amputee patients. In this situation the area of the brain representing the lost limb seems to change allegiance so that it begins to respond to other, still intact, parts of the body instead.
Many such patients report that they can still feel their lost limb, although the sensations they experience, which are often painful, are derived from other parts of the body, and this experience is described as 'phantom limb syndrome'.
Experts at Heidelberg's Central Institute of Mental Health have speculated that tinnitus is the phantom limb pain of the auditory system and therefore might be amenable to the same drug treatment used for the control of phantom limb syndrome after amputation.</i>
Regards
James
Hey FLMike, no one can hear dead silence, there's nothing to hear... Yuk Yuk
Sorry mike I had to jump on that one, but I know what you are saying. We each suffer through hearing loss. It is an individual trait. Everyone is different and you can lose frequencies in the bottom middle or top. I feel that is why no two people can ever agree on eq settings. We all hear differently. I believe grey posted once about training your ear s and this also includes knowing what you are missing frequency wise. Like an engineer walking into a new studio for the first time, first thing he does is pop his favorite cd in and listen. He's tuning his ears to the room. He knows that cd inside and out. Makes a big difference.
Ears are the most important part of our systems. Without them the rest means nothing.
Sorry mike I had to jump on that one, but I know what you are saying. We each suffer through hearing loss. It is an individual trait. Everyone is different and you can lose frequencies in the bottom middle or top. I feel that is why no two people can ever agree on eq settings. We all hear differently. I believe grey posted once about training your ear s and this also includes knowing what you are missing frequency wise. Like an engineer walking into a new studio for the first time, first thing he does is pop his favorite cd in and listen. He's tuning his ears to the room. He knows that cd inside and out. Makes a big difference.
Ears are the most important part of our systems. Without them the rest means nothing.
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