Different perceptions on different days?

[Dragonmilenario]

Hi everyone, I want to discuss something I’ve clearly noticed in my 40 years of life on this planet . It’s not related to anything physical like dirt in the ear canals or similar issues.

I’ve observed that there are days when I think I can hear better than others: more clarity, improved instrument separation, and distinct layers. Could this be a psychological matter, or is it more related to the physical properties of the human ear?

Are there any papers or publications about this matter out there?

 

[dunring]

It's true, depends on me for weather and also after listening all day I have a hard time telling the difference on equipment until I get a break. Barometer and humidity seem to play a part, and not falling asleep with the clock radio on anymore helps recovery time.

 

[castleofargh]

I haven’t seen a paper talking about this in general, would love a link if there is one.
There is ample research on hearing loss, tinnitus and various diseases, ear infections, possible side effect of drugs... it is often suggested that some event or product could have some impact, alleviate some symptoms or possibly aggravate others.
You global experience will affect your experience of sound. Your mood, ambient noises, the amount of light, the color of the walls, temperature, humidity, if you’re tired, if you spent the day in a noisier environment, if you slept well, how much salt you have in your body, if your well hydrated...
I read many things about coffee, but I stopped paying attention. Coffee is like chocolate, you have a study somewhere that suggests it does anything and another saying the opposite, without either being replicated. Most of the time it turns out to be some vague stuff tested on mice. Anytime I find research on those 2, I feel like the ice cream man in Ghost Dog. One day hearing on the radio that ice cream is good for people because it has calcium, another day hearing it’s bad because it has sugar.

In a more direct and external impact, you could have more or less ear wax, some ear infection, water in your hear canal. Temperature and humidity do affect the sound itself, IDK if we notice it as sound difference but it matters when doing precise measurements. Chances are that we still notice humidity and cold or hot temperature more with our entire body than by how it changed sound, which is why I listed both before as something the brain might care about for the subjective experience of sound, even without actual sound change being noticed.

And of course we’re never sure that our memory of yesterday’s sound is accurate enough to conclude that a difference is not simply due to the amount of misremembering or what we happened to focus on, or listening level having changed...

But you certainly are right that changes in our experience do happen. Much more realistic to believe this than to believe we are eternally perfect so we know the DAC burned in because 3 months ago we remember something different about the sound...

 

[BS5711]

Outside of anything physical like earwax or transient changes in health.

Based on my experience ones mood, state of mind in respect of other things you might be thinking about, comfort, your environment and how that makes you feel etc all quite significantly impact your experience and perception of sound.

Even something as simple as whether you are thinking about the music you are hearing or just listening and relaxing or what music you are listening to and how it makes you feel will have an effect on your perception of sound.

On occasion I have been listening to music and simply enjoying it and it sounds good but as soon as a start to pay attention to some aspects of the sound the whole experience falls apart. Conversely sometimes paying attention seems to make things sound better.

Due to differing combinations of circumstances some days everything sounds better than normal but other days nothing sounds good even with the exact same equipment and music and I just turn it off.

I think that is just the foibles of the human auditory system and its relationship with our other senses and mental processes.

Factor this sort of thing in with our inherently poor auditory memory and it is no wonder people get themselves confused about different gear affecting sound when science and measurements indicate it will make no audible difference.

 

[captblaze]

My hearing has been affected over the course of my life. Teen years were live concerts and too many nights with the headphones at loud levels. With adulthood came more live concerts but added mechanical and electronic sirens. Now at a bit past 60 I have what I call "Periods of Vivid Hearing" where sometimes sounds presents to my ears and brain in a good way and others a not so good way.
Wax and other obstructions are never an issue, so it is just age and wear and tear, but I do believe that human hearing can ebb and flow

 

[FunkyBassMan]

Hi everyone, I want to discuss something I’ve clearly noticed in my 40 years of life on this planet . It’s not related to anything physical like dirt in the ear canals or similar issues.

I’ve observed that there are days when I think I can hear better than others: more clarity, improved instrument separation, and distinct layers. Could this be a psychological matter, or is it more related to the physical properties of the human ear?

Are there any papers or publications about this matter out there?

The phenomenon is known as cognitive ease. It's well studied in psychology and there are lots of papers on it.

 

[Davesrose]

I’ve observed that there are days when I think I can hear better than others: more clarity, improved instrument separation, and distinct layers. Could this be a psychological matter, or is it more related to the physical properties of the human ear?

Are there any papers or publications about this matter out there?

Both. Since audio stimuli is a perception processed in the brain, your mood and amount of attention spent on listening affects your perception of audio. There are both afferent (towards brain, sensory) nerves, as well as efferent (away from brain, motor) nerves. The environment/and or your health at a given day influences the muscles attached to your bones in the middle ear (which can be tensed). The basilar membrane that has the hair cells innervating afferent nerves, as well as efferent nerves (Medial olivocochlear efferent (MOCE)) that can control sensitivity under certain conditions. The fluid in the inner ear (parilymph) has a homeostasis that could slightly change with health and diet. With the anatomy/physiology of the ear, these changes in homeostasis are usually pretty minute...but are more extreme when you're reaching high altitude or listening to loud sounds for prolonged periods. Memory, attentiveness, isolating perception may be bigger influences on how you hear or recall music.

As for papers, there are still studies as far as details of every cell. I learned the basics of hearing from med classes (enough info from gross anatomy that included physiology). Also a separate class in neuroanatomy to learn about the specific structures of the nervous system. An anatomy and physiology textbook is an adequate survey of all perceptions (and if you have any more curiosity about the body).

 

[Ryokan]

Drinking alcohol doesn't help as it stays in the inner ear fluid longer than in the bloodstream. It also increases blood flow to your ears which can cause tinnitus.
I still enjoy a few beers though.

 

[bigshot]

My DAC has a headache.

 

[gregorio]

I’ve observed that there are days when I think I can hear better than others: more clarity, improved instrument separation, and distinct layers. Could this be a psychological matter, or is it more related to the physical properties of the human ear?

I personally don’t have days like that, with certain obvious exceptions: Days or periods when one or both of my ears have been obviously affected/blocked by pressure from say flying, a fast/high elevator, even a fast steep road, also from having a cold/flu, or affected by fatigue or TTS.

Beyond those fairly obvious physical conditions, I can obviously vary the clarity, separation, etc., I perceive by conscious effort, even from moment to moment, by switching from casual listening to critical/analytical listening or by changing the precise focus of what I’m critically listening to. For example, I can change my focus/concentration from a single instrument/sound within the mix to the whole mix. I’ve frequently been surprised by how even highly experienced audiophiles typically listen, which compared to my colleagues appears to be highly chaotic and undisciplined, they usually cannot focus their concentration so intently or precisely. Worse still, they often don’t even seem to know the difference between hearing something and experiencing something, EG. They do not differentiate between what they are hearing and what they are feeling (their emotional response to what they are hearing) when listening to the music.

This is a particular problem for several reasons: Firstly, emotional response is variable, both from person to person and even within the same person, because it is affected by numerous factors that may have absolutely nothing to do with the actual sound we’re hearing. For example, stress can obviously affect our emotional response, so too can our general mental state, our mood, if we’re hungry, tired, relaxed or various other factors. Secondly, it leads to false assertions, for instance, claims of hearing differences when in fact they’re not hearing differences, they’re just experiencing some slightly different emotional response that have nothing to do with what they’re hearing. And thirdly, emotional responses are even more easily influenced by biases than hearing, so that leaves audiophiles more vulnerable to marketing.

G

 

[Whazzzup]

Everyday a winding road
I get a little bit closer to feeling fine

 

[Ryokan]

Worse still, they often don’t even seem to know the difference between hearing something and experiencing something, EG. They do not differentiate between what they are hearing and what they are feeling (their emotional response to what they are hearing) when listening to the music.



G

Seriously? maybe this applies more to 'casual listeners'?

Everyday a winding road
I get a little bit closer to feeling fine

Thought you were retired? your biggest worry should be if your Dac has a headache

 

[Whazzzup]

Seriously? maybe this applies more to 'casual listeners'?



Thought you were retired? your biggest worry should be if your Dac has a headache

just different days different perceptions, its a winding road regardless

 

[gregorio]

Seriously? maybe this applies more to 'casual listeners'?

Sure, most casual listeners don’t know the difference and quite a few aren’t interested in knowing but it also appears to apply to at least some experienced audiophiles as well. This is evidenced by some of the “impressions” and even reviews posted by some audiophiles and I’ve seen it first hand on several occasions when I’ve had experienced audiophiles in my studio and they were unable to identify some of the basics, did not know how to focus their listening skills and could not differentiate “hearing” from “emotional response”.

G

 

[Ghoostknight]

imo i can definitely agree that mood is a big factor ... but what i noticed is that i can get pretty similar results if i start testing "in a relaxed calm" state (with no recent "bad" events or whatever) then its definitely not like day and night from day to day testing...