So you think you have golden ears... HAH!

[pageman99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't find it amazing.. I would expect as much. People learn to adapt.. When they lose one sense others become stronger.. Like ppl that have no hands use their feet as hands. It is incredible how strong ones hearing can become when sight is lost.. His GF kind of reminds me of Dare Devil & has 'radar' sense.. Seeing through the vibrations.. I always wantd to know how the blind interpret music..

Just ask Ray Charles.

Went to a concert at Heinz Hall here in Pittsburgh about 10 years ago. One of the promoters, an interesting lady, took me backstage to meet him. I asked him roughly the same question.

He gave me a dirty look. Nevermind, as you can imagine, I tried to shrink into the walls.

Needless to say it was before I met my current girlfriend. Just before actually, by a couple of months. Shame the timing wasn't better. Now THAT, a little later, would have been an interesting conversation.

Oddly enough, a couple of my girlfriend's childhood classmates make a living with Jimmy Sapienza here, doing Sinatra and 5 Guys Named Moe type of music, live. I've met them and, just like sighted folk, they won't talk to me because they think my girl is "uppity" for passing on the blind culture and having a sighted boyfriend. There's status and caste in every culture. BTW I went to high school with Jimmy and he laughs about the whole situation.

 

[pageman99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by khbaur330162 /img/forum/go_quote.gif pageman99: Thanks for sharing. I find it interesting that your girl friend is reluctant to listen to headphones. I now understand why, but I would have thought it to be rather therapeutic in a way; escaping almost all perceived reality through music. Maybe that's just the audiophile in me talking. Really? Idk, I'm pretty sure you could do it to at least some degree of accuracy if you tried. I don't think he meant to say she can echo locate a pencil on the floor by snapping her fingers per se, but simply get a rough idea of perhaps how far away the walls are and if there's a table, chair, etc. nearby. Close your eyes outside sometime and just listen to your surroundings. The wind is an excellent tool to use for this application. 003: Tact?

No, no pencils on floors. But she can snap those fingers on the way out of her main door to work and locate my car door handle with a surpisingly minimal amount of groping on those days I pick her up from work.

 

[e-dub]

well, i've ravaged my hearing through the years (walkman + discman + raves + clubs + deejaying), so i guess i'm kinda of awed by a statement like that.

i still find it utterly amazing

eric b

 

[vYu223]

So she must be a speaker person, huh? (as opposed to headphones)

 

[pageman99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vYu223 /img/forum/go_quote.gif So she must be a speaker person, huh? (as opposed to headphones)

She's a "speaker person" alright. And mid fi at that. Her personal system is a Onkyo receiver, fed by a Sanyo CD player into big Cerwin Vegas.

They don't reproduce 'reality' well, but they sure do rock! She's eliminated the audiophiles' analism and went straight to FUN.

You know, she's pretty damn smart, when you think about it. .

 

[Psiga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pageman99 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd take her over to tkam's for a K1000 listen, but headphones really do give her the creeps. Understandably, yet sadly, so.

Indeed. S'why I was curious about the farthest extreme of open-type headphones; but yeah, her reluctance is understandable.

She seems to be knowledgeable of artist names and details of recording gear, though -- does she still enjoy music through stereo systems?

 

[Rob E.]

Really fascinating. We've all read of how the other physical senses compensate for the loss of one or more of them. The adaptability of the body/mind is a miracle in itself. When you think about it, headphones, and especially IEM's are unnatural. Our auditory systems have evolved over thousands of years, and the ear/brain is hardwired to get spatial clues from reflections off of the outer ear - the pinna. Bypassing that for most of us takes a fair amount of adjustment. For your girlfriend, whose hearing abilities are so sensitized, it must be other-worldly, and very unnatural for her. Miracles never cease

 

[pageman99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psiga /img/forum/go_quote.gif Indeed. S'why I was curious about the farthest extreme of open-type headphones; but yeah, her reluctance is understandable. She seems to be knowledgeable of artist names and details of recording gear, though -- does she still enjoy music through stereo systems?

Like most of us, she knows the music of her generation. She likes to say when I'm not around, she'll blast the stereo, and apologize to the cats.

As far as details, she knows the process. And she's smart enough to relate what she hears to how it's done.

I wish she was anal and tolerant enough of headphones, to just be objective with how each sounds. But, simply put, she ain't interested.

Shame, because she could provide us with invaluable information.

And provide us with answers to unaswerable questions.

Just go to the cables thread to see what I mean. !!!!

 

[pageman99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob E. /img/forum/go_quote.gif Really fascinating. We've all read of how the other physical senses compensate for the loss of one or more of them. The adaptability of the body/mind is a miracle in itself. When you think about it, headphones, and especially IEM's are unnatural. Our auditory systems have evolved over thousands of years, and the ear/brain is hardwired to get spatial clues from reflections off of the outer ear - the pinna. Bypassing that for most of us takes a fair amount of adjustment. For your girlfriend, whose hearing abilities are so sensitized, it must be other-worldly, and very unnatural for her. Miracles never cease

She laughs "at that crap". She'd give up all that just to be able to drive. And THAT'S a direct quote.

God, of all the aggravation of being blind, that's the only thing I think she cares about. Not being able to drive.

Sigh... When you think about it... I'd have to agree with her.

 

[troymadison]

is there any hope for her to see again through treatment/surgery?

 

[pageman99]

LOL!

Nah, her eyeballs are gone. Just like popped with a spoon, as she says.

Actually, she's lucky to still be alive as it's a form of cancer. And those with the affliction tend to get other cancers. Especially brain cancer, to which she's lost more than a few friends.

My concerns are just the normal ones. I really don't think of her as being blind. And she gets really p***ed if I seem to be more than a normal amount of protective of her.

Lucky for me, her family is more than a bit well off. So that I don't have to worry about "taking care of her". Plus she's more than a bit pretty and more than a bit worldly. She can dump me in a minute without a concern.

As you can tell. Being blind isn't first on her list of things to worry about. Nor my list, for that matter.

Don't know your age, but let me share what women worry about:

NUMBER ONE: Security

NUMBER TWO: See number one.

The rest depends on the woman. My girl ain't worried about 1 or 2.

 

[ClieOS]

Amazing story.

Believe it or not, the ability of sight takes most of our brain processing power away from other sensory. This is why once your brain are free of it, the other senses will be enchanted significantly as a result of your brain redistributing all the processing power to compensate the lose of sight.

However, do not think that you can get blind today and have a golden ear tomorrow. Blind people who develop ultra sensitive hearing or tasting mostly lose their sight at very early age. It seems that once your brain passed through a certain developmental phase, it will become semi-affixed to the original processing distribution and will be more difficult to develop any extraordinary sensory. So don't try to poke your eyes out or anything

 

[Guarneri]

Although I would definitely not say she is "lucky" to have such great aural sensory, I am definitely jealous of her abilities. To be able to hear with that kind of precision and power would make me a much better violinist/musician. Whether or not I could hear more out of a headphone would be the least of my concerns if my brain worked like her's.

Of course, for every advantage, there's a counter-balance so I'm satisfied with what I have.

 

[catscratch]

That's pretty impressive, but I really would expect no less. Our hearing acuity is much, much higher than what we normally use or have conscious access to. If you've ever listened to music in specific altered states, you will know exactly the amount of detail that your ears are not picking up under normal circumstances (once you separate real from hallucinated detail).

Human hearing tends to be a bell curve, and while I believe I am at the upper end of the bell curve (more by virtue of training than any specific innate abilities) there is room for much, much more.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pageman99 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just ask Ray Charles. Went to a concert at Heinz Hall here in Pittsburgh about 10 years ago. One of the promoters, an interesting lady, took me backstage to meet him. I asked him roughly the same question. He gave me a dirty look. Nevermind, as you can imagine, I tried to shrink into the walls. Needless to say it was before I met my current girlfriend. Just before actually, by a couple of months. Shame the timing wasn't better. Now THAT, a little later, would have been an interesting conversation. Oddly enough, a couple of my girlfriend's childhood classmates make a living with Jimmy Sapienza here, doing Sinatra and 5 Guys Named Moe type of music, live. I've met them and, just like sighted folk, they won't talk to me because they think my girl is "uppity" for passing on the blind culture and having a sighted boyfriend. There's status and caste in every culture. BTW I went to high school with Jimmy and he laughs about the whole situation.

Same way in the deaf community if you date someone who can hear. Backlash.. & the, oh, your too good to date a deaf guy Really sad. I even heard of deaf parents making their children deaf, which is really twisted.. I'm speech impaired, personally.. The only thing that increased is my ability to read body language to a great degree, & feeling how others will percieve me & handle my speech. I get a sense if they will be ok with it or not.. before actually talking to them..