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Is you hearing symmetric? - Page 2

post #16 of 34
3/20/10 at 11:39pm
Well both of my ears tested the same oddly, exactly. I didn't feel the need to alter anything.

I set my Mac iTunes and DVD player for this equalizer setting. It's ironic, cause the setting I usually use is a small V shape, which is almost just what the result came out to be.
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post #17 of 34
3/21/10 at 10:53am
I played violin and I blame that on the minor hearing loss in my left ear. It's only a problem when someone is talking very low on my left side or while wearing headphones (and aggravated by certain types of recordings with minimal crossfeeding), otherwise my brain will compensate and I won't consciously hear the discrepancy. My ear canals are not identical either, so that contributes a little to my confusion my advice is to just ignore the difference and eventually your brain will adapt to it, and be able to transition between listening to headphones and listening to real life sounds with less confusion.
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post #18 of 34
3/21/10 at 11:40am
Thread Starter 
What about custom IEMs? Shouldn't they neglect the ear canal differences?
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post #19 of 34
3/22/10 at 7:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by haloxt View Post
I played violin and I blame that on the minor hearing loss in my left ear. It's only a problem when someone is talking very low on my left side or while wearing headphones (and aggravated by certain types of recordings with minimal crossfeeding), otherwise my brain will compensate and I won't consciously hear the discrepancy. My ear canals are not identical either, so that contributes a little to my confusion my advice is to just ignore the difference and eventually your brain will adapt to it, and be able to transition between listening to headphones and listening to real life sounds with less confusion.
I blame my rattle gun I used at work to do up and undo wheel bolts. I held the gun up high near my left ear - so now I think everything is balanced to the right. Other wise I was also believing it had a lot to do with whether one was left or right handed. I also find my IEM to be more unbalanced - nevertheless I just ignore it now.
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post #20 of 34
3/22/10 at 8:59am
My hearing is bit asymmetrical. My left ear is bit more sensitive to treble so music I listen with headphones is very slightly balanced to the left, and sometimes it bugs me a bit.

Checked my hearing on doctor (not real audiologist, but good enough) and results were that my hearing is oversensitive and above average line, but right had a small dip in treble, which was still above the average line. I guess its that dip what is screwing my hearing balance.
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post #21 of 34
3/23/10 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 
What about recordings themselves? I am pretty sure that most of the modern recordings have more instruments in the right channel. This might make us blame our hearing.
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post #22 of 34
3/23/10 at 8:04pm
Haha, the recording engineers must be def in one ear then.
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post #23 of 34
3/23/10 at 10:13pm
Thread Starter 
Who knows maybe mainstream listeners prefer more sound in the right ear.
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post #24 of 34
3/23/10 at 10:16pm
I hope not, because that's just wrong.

Just give them mono and balance it more to the right. They won't know the difference.
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post #25 of 34
3/23/10 at 11:13pm
Thread Starter 
Right now I am listening to Rush - Time And Motion. Bass guitar seems to be slightly on the right side. Is this my ears or it is indeed on the right side?
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post #26 of 34
3/23/10 at 11:41pm
Just thought I'd chime in.

A lot of headphones themselves are assymetrical, and you really shouldn't be judging your hearing on anything other than equipment designed for audiometric purposes. Although "indetectable" difference, I think 1 dB is the tolerance for a lot of ~$500 mark headphones. Although a change in volume of 1dB is almost indistinguishable (for the average person), a differential SPL certainly is IME, anyway

If you are hearing slightly off centre, it could very easily be either due to the recording (I find recordings tend to favour the left side rather than the right if they are off-centre slightly), or even due to your headphones. It could also be caused by fault caps etc in dac/amp but you would probably know when that is the case.

Just something to be aware of. If you are truly concerned about your hearing, get it done by a professional.
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post #27 of 34
3/25/10 at 8:09am
OK its really bugging me now.

what does IME and AFAIK mean? I see it all the time but never figured it out. IMO = in my opinion - I worked out, but IME?
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post #28 of 34
3/25/10 at 8:29am
As far as i know
In my experience
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post #29 of 34
3/25/10 at 9:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrGreen View Post
Although "indetectable" difference, I think 1 dB is the tolerance for a lot of ~$500 mark headphones. Although a change in volume of 1dB is almost indistinguishable (for the average person), a differential SPL certainly is IME, anyway
The matching between left/right is usually only done at one or a handful at most of frequencies. Measurements show the matching between headphones at any price range to be quite a bit worse than 1dB, except a few headphones with specified tolerances across the entire spectrum. HeadRoom has graphs of these where you can see this for yourself.
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post #30 of 34
3/25/10 at 10:07am
You know, I get this too!

I have yet to have any formal testing, but any testing I do would suggest I have symetrical hearing. Yet, sometimes when I listen to music, on occasion, I start wondering if everything is equal!

However, I think that due to the crazy channel separation and low crosstalk, it will simply seem like this at different parts of a song. Like a ride being only in one ear, bass being in the other. Different frequencies are perceived at different volumes for the same loudness etc etc.

If I am not worrying about it, I never notice. It is only when I worry that I think so...

Even if your hearing isn't perfect, I would just try and forget about it, as there is nothing you can really to.

Also, I had an ear blocked by fluid for a while and had to have a nasal steroid to clear that up. After I noticed I stopped worrying almost completely.
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