Is it possible to train your ears to hear better?
Sep 22, 2003 at 1:31 AM Post #16 of 34
Quote:

Originally posted by MusicLover
Specifically, is it possible to make yourself able to hear higher and lower frequencies than what you normally can by training your ears constantly with really well recorded music?


Is there any reason not to at least try? You'll just end up listening to more music at the very least.
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 1:51 AM Post #17 of 34
Sovkiller,

Please reread my post. I didn't say that a person could change their physical ability to hear. I only said that, with practice (and perhaps some coaching), a person's PERCEPTION/UNDERSTANDING of what they hear can be increased
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Sep 22, 2003 at 3:16 AM Post #18 of 34
In the past week or so, I've listened to music in a different way than I usually do, I guess in a more analytical way. I eventually started hearing things that I had never heard before. It then seemed like every day I was hearing more and more details. It's weird because it all happened suddenly. Come to think of it, it started when I got my first really well recorded cd. Now some songs are totally different because of this. Thanks a lot for all your answers.
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 11:12 AM Post #19 of 34
Quote:

Originally posted by dparrish
Sovkiller,

Please reread my post. I didn't say that a person could change their physical ability to hear. I only said that, with practice (and perhaps some coaching), a person's PERCEPTION/UNDERSTANDING of what they hear can be increased
smily_headphones1.gif


That is the same I explained below...perception can be trained, hearing can't...
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 2:44 PM Post #22 of 34
I know it's possible to destroy your ears and gain better hearing. I now have "super ears" for distortion. Since I blew them out with headphones, my ears are much more sensitive and, in a way, better than they were before at hearing the flaws in a system.

Within a short time of listening to a recording, source or system that is producing distortion, my ears begin to burn. They are so attuned to distortion in upper frequencies that I can often feel the burn start before I realize there is distortion going. Then, when I do listen harder, I'll notice the very faint distortion producing the problem.

Sometimes I think I should rent myself out to audio companies as "the human dog" since I believe my ears now pick up unnoticable distortion in the 5k-14k range that other's would completely miss. I don't know if this is a blessing or a curse, but I do know it has helped me create a great system!

I read somewhere on the web about a fellow who is called in to listen to equipment for manufacturers becauses he has the ability to hear things amiss that others can't. I bet the same thing happened to him: he has "super-hearing" from damage.
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 2:52 PM Post #23 of 34
Almost anynone can improve his/her hearing...

...and the secrets lies in cleaning your ears at the doctor using water spray...

I didn't do it yet, but my friend did it, who is also a musician, and he was very surrprised at how much better he heard...

Anyone else did that procedure? As friend said, it's not painful, but a bit discomfortable...
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 3:53 PM Post #24 of 34
The type of learning that people are talking about is a perceptual discrimination. The physical limits of a sensory organ determine what we can detect. However, detection is only part of the story. We need to attend to a stimulus, and become conscious of it, before we can be said to have "heard" it. The process of sorting through the stimuli that are available to us, and sorting out the useful stimuli from "random noise" is learned (this is true of all senses, incidentally). That process can be improved through practice, as we can indeed learn to attend to different aspects of a given auditory stimulus. It's a constant process. What I hear is evolving continuously. There are some quantum jumps, when people point out aspects of sound that I have been missing, or not listening to properly. Once I know that something is there to be heard, I can start attending to it. If I can "hear" it, which may take some time before it occurs (the first part of the process is "unlearning" inattention to "irrelevant" stimuli), then I can start attending to it. Once that happens, my "ear" is better.
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 4:45 PM Post #25 of 34
Yes, your hearing can be trained. First you have to decide which method to use: Positive reinforcement or Negative reinforcement.
My ears seem to respond better to a pat on the earlobe and a reasuring "Way to go ears!", more than yelling at them like a boot camp sargent, "Come on ears, you're not listening. CAN YOU HEAR ME!"

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Ok, so I agree with Hirsch...
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Sep 22, 2003 at 8:09 PM Post #26 of 34
Quote:

Originally posted by nic.hobson
some would say yes


Ive got one on order just to see if its true


Nic

------------------------------------------------------------------
If the world was an LP Coventry would be the hole.


Wow, that looks really cool, like it might actually help in some way. I am probably going to order it. Thanks for pointing it out.
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 8:09 PM Post #27 of 34
You could train your ears to discern between different sounds and maybe separate them or notice them in a better way, or the perception of those sounds, or the differentiation or those sounds, but there is a limit in freq extension, and this is inherent to the organ, and the individual in question, this part is not trainable IMO, if you can't hear 20Khz, it doesn't matter how much you train your ear, you never will be able to hear that freq, of course talking of a clean ear, with not apparent anomalies that could be clinically treated, and will improve your audition as a result, the perception could be improved, even with better equipments (audio gear), not necesarilly have to be a method for that, but the audition could not, IMO, and what he is asking is if we could extend our hearing in freq terms, beyond our actual limits in freq extension, with a training....sorry this is not possible, if this could be possible, deafness got a cure!!! There is no human being that could hear 25KHz, or below 15Hz, (as an standard, maybe there is freak around) and there is no method to make you hear that freqs, those are limits of the human hearing.....
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 8:12 PM Post #28 of 34
Quote:

Originally posted by Sovkiller
There is no human being that could hear 25KHz, or below 15Hz, (as an standard, maybe there is freak around) and there is no method to make you hear that freqs, those are limits of the human hearing.....


I think there have actually been people who are able to hear much higher than 20khz, like around 100khz
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. I think that's what a "golden ear" is.
 
Sep 22, 2003 at 8:53 PM Post #29 of 34
Quote:

Originally posted by MusicLover
Specifically, is it possible to make yourself able to hear higher and lower frequencies than what you normally can by training your ears constantly with really well recorded music?


Well, a little burn-in will do wonders...
 
Sep 23, 2003 at 1:51 AM Post #30 of 34
Quote:

Originally posted by MusicLover
I think there have actually been people who are able to hear much higher than 20khz, like around 100khz
eek.gif
. I think that's what a "golden ear" is.


Well buddy, is a very interesting theme, this one, you brought, if you could point me to the place where I can read about that, it should be very illustrative for me, please (PM me), I just chose those numbers as an example, just to choose a number or a "limit" high enough, I'm not pretty sure of the values though, I don't think I can hear 25KHz but I can't asure that other could not....(but I also stated that there could be a freak around) as an standard the human hearing is 20KHz to 20Hz more or less average, of course, so I supposed that 25KHz to 15Hz should be high enough
 
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