I just found this on the Recording Website. In response to a hearing loss question. « on: March 16, 2003» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Without getting too technical, lets look at some facts. Our hearing system can experience three types of hearing loss: Conductive, Sensorineural, and Mixed. Conductive hearing loss can occur if the structures of the outer ear to middle ear do not work properly. Conductive loss is more likely to respond to medical and/or surgical treatment. Sensorineural loss is nerve deafness. Sensorineural loss is more permanent. Mixed includes both of these types. We are most concerned with preventing nerve deafness, as it is attributed to high SPL's and/or high SPL's for extended exposure times. Leon has an article with an SPL chart in it, so I won't replicate one here. Suffice it to say, that if you are averaging 90dB or above for the duration of the service, then you are too loud! A loss of up to 20dB Hearing Level (HL) is considered "normal" hearing. A loss of 21-45dB HL is considered "mild." People with a "mild" loss may experience difficulty understanding a soft spoken person or speech at a distance. Understanding speech over background noise may be difficult. "Moderate" loss is 46-65dB HL. People with this loss have a hard time with one on one speech in any environment. Trying to hear over background noise is extremely difficult. "Severe" loss, 66-85dB HL prohibits conversation, unless the speaker is talking loudly at close range. The last step is "profound" loss, from 86dB HL on up. Communicating is generally used by other means, as they cannot hear even the loudest sounds. God made our hearing to be especially sensitive to the human vocal range. Specific frequencies are very important for speech to be intelligable. Our vowel energy is below 1kHz. Above 1kHz is the information needed for consonants. 44% of our comprehension is between 1.5kHz and 3kHz. A person with moderate loss might have a loss below 1kHz, and a substantial loss in the upper frequencies, and still hear sounds like l, b, m, a, but would not be able to hear sounds like p, k, sh, th, etc.. I'll be honest. As a techinal director, I would dread the Tuesday morning staff meetings. I would get compliments and complaints about the same issue. People with "normal" hearing heard how great the sound was. People without hearing complained that it wasn't intelligable. They felt the SPL through conductivity, but it was muffled sensorineurally. What did I do? Education and hearing testing. I am not going to say that the problems went away, but it helped. People with hearing loss are generally in denial, and very proud. Ironically they where glasses that tells the world that they can't see well, but they won't wear an invisable hearing device that will help them get back to experiencing life aurally. My brother, Brian Handy, Ph.D., and I saw a need years ago for education in the Church. Churches need to know that they must stop endangering the hearing systems. We wouldn't think of damaging the eyesight with blinding light or lasers in the retina. So why damage one of the other senses? We cannot make it to every church that calls us. I have listed some organizations that you may contact. They can connect you with certified specialists in your area, that will help meet the needs of the hearing impaired in your membership. This may also be a great way to minister to your local community as well. To find speech-language pathologists and audiologists, contact the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) at www.asha.com. To find your state board certified specialists, contact www.hearingbc.org. The International Hearing Society can recommend hearing professionals by contacting them at www.ihinfo.org. The National Institute on Deafness Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and Hereditary Hearing Impairment Resource Registry (HHIRR) can be contacted at 1-800-320-1171.
Excellent post, Grant. We tend to forget our hearing is THE key component in the listening experience, even while we tend to focus on the quality and setup of our equipment, remastering issues, etc. Some hearing loss is inevitable; I know I don't have quite the high frequency hearing I had when I was half my age. Yet I find it very telling that some remasters, to this day, sound excessively bright. If they sound that way to me, imagine somebody with exceptional hearing: must be maddening to even try to listen to. This might also explain why some guys--like Astley-- remaster everything 'bright.' Maybe it's because the highs in their hearing are muffled or gone. ED
Interesting point. I wonder if professionals assume their hearing is what it once was. When we hear recordings that sound 'bad' to us, maybe it sounded 'great' to the person laying down the track. Is there any mandatory hearing testing for the industry? Kind of curious.
So, as long as I think his efforts sound too bright, then my hearing is still okay? I'll admit that I was quilty of the ol' smiley eq setting on my old home system for a long time. But, I also had crappy speakers that needed the help. Now with a much better speaker/system setup (which no longer includes the separate 10 band per channel graphic eq), the settings are mainly flat. I guess I should start to worry if I ever have to kick up the treble. Joel
Strangly enough I sometimes find myself asking a person to repeat themselves, yet when I'm listening to music I feel nothing lacking and things are balanced fine...Maybe I need a hearing test???...A frightenng thought...loss of any hearing! Although as we age our hearing range decreases. I find that when I'm listening to music with my son...he hears much more in the high end...
