Temporary Hearing Loss

[bobsticks]

So I think last week I mentioned something about feeling a bit under the weather. Being a man, and an overly stubborn example of the species, my general rule of thumb is to refuse to ever admit sickness. Standard operating procedure is to guzzle NyQuil Green Death with numerous hot toddies at night and bolster it with borderline unethical amounts of Sudafed during the day to remain standing. As it turns out, this is a bad idea.

Early this week my jaw started hurting, accompanied by mind-numbing and debilitating headaches by mid week. At this point I'm thinkin' "What more can go wrong?" I went to the dentist with the full expectation of having a full root canal or extraction. He pronounces me in perfect (dental) health and sends me to my general practioner. Turns out I've had a severe bronchitis which has led to infection. Treatment is a full reversal including expectorants and anti-biotics. Needless to say, in the last 36 hours my head has balooned up to the point that a casual bystander would suspect I'd come up on the losing end of a few rounds with Tito Ortiz. Worse yet, I can't hear a damn thing. Well, I can hear everything it's just all midrange. My whole life is like a Fall Out Boy record on a Bose Acoustimass. This sucks.

Any of you guys ever gone through temporary hearing loss? Life becomes murky, sedated, and reeeaallly boring...

[Hyfi]

Any of you guys ever gone through temporary hearing loss?


Yeah, after every Buddy Guy concert I have attended. Like yourself and being a stubborn male, I refused the cotton for my ears that my smart wife usually brings to shows, I end up with ringing for several days.

[Troy]

Yep, happened to me in Hawaii one year. My ear wouldn't clear after swimming and I was almost deaf in that one side for a week. Dizzy too.

Take it easy and get better.

[bobsticks]

Nice choice. At least yours were "self induced" party maladies...blech, cough, hork, gurgle...

[PeruvianSkies]

So I think last week I mentioned something about feeling a bit under the weather. Being a man, and an overly stubborn example of the species, my general rule of thumb is to refuse to ever admit sickness. Standard operating procedure is to guzzle NyQuil Green Death with numerous hot toddies at night and bolster it with borderline unethical amounts of Sudafed during the day to remain standing. As it turns out, this is a bad idea.

Early this week my jaw started hurting, accompanied by mind-numbing and debilitating headaches by mid week. At this point I'm thinkin' "What more can go wrong?" I went to the dentist with the full expectation of having a full root canal or extraction. He pronounces me in perfect (dental) health and sends me to my general practioner. Turns out I've had a severe bronchitis which has led to infection. Treatment is a full reversal including expectorants and anti-biotics. Needless to say, in the last 36 hours my head has balooned up to the point that a casual bystander would suspect I'd come up on the losing end of a few rounds with Tito Ortiz. Worse yet, I can't hear a damn thing. Well, I can hear everything it's just all midrange. My whole life is like a Fall Out Boy record on a Bose Acoustimass. This sucks.

Any of you guys ever gone through temporary hearing loss? Life becomes murky, sedated, and reeeaallly boring...

It's amazing how much we take our hearing for granted, until (like your situation) we undergo some short-term experience that enables us to fully recognize just how important our hearing is. What I have found is that hearing (more than any other sense) really determines your overall body balance and it's no coincidence that the world of audio operates in stereo mode, just like our bodies. Our ears, unlike a set of speakers, is capable of a full 360-degree experience, whereas speakers are directional. It's amazing just how dependent we become on our hearing for so many things, like I said...our balance is the obvious one. As a bunch of audiophiles that we are, we tend to hear things in a more analytical way that most people and so for us it's even more frustrating when our hearing begins to fail us or decline, which is something that naturally happens and we don't even realize it.

[nightflier]

Never really had a hearing loss (apart from the post-concert type), but this idea of balance made me think of something. When we listen to speakers in stereo, we are mostly experiencing a horizontal plane about ear-level. Stray but a little up or down and the sound noticeably diminishes. But our ears are actually capable of picking up sounds in 3 dimensions (for example, we hear when the wife upstairs stomps on the floor when the music is too loud).

Now I know that full-range tower speakers, or better yet, planar speakers, have a much "taller" presentation than a pair of bookshelves. If these full-range tall speakers are as good at placing instruments, then theoretically one should be able to hear instruments seemingly throughout the 3 dimensional space in front of our ears. Imagine for example sitting frontrow center in front of a large live orchestra and chorus. We should be able to place each voice and instrument in front of us both along the horizontal and along the vertical axes; and if the stage is curved around us, we should also be able to add depth to the positioning.

I think I've always taken this for granted and placed my seat so that my ears were at tweeter level, but a good pair of speakers should not only have width and depth, but also dimensionality. Instead of adjusting the placement of the couch, how high we sit on it and the toe-in of the speakers, a good pair of speakers should project a complete sound stage throughout the seating area, regardless of positioning. If so, then I don't think I've really had very good speakers in my system.

I know there are other attributes that go into making speakers, but am I correct about this one?

[PeruvianSkies]

Never really had a hearing loss (apart from the post-concert type), but this idea of balance made me think of something. When we listen to speakers in stereo, we are mostly experiencing a horizontal plane about ear-level. Stray but a little up or down and the sound noticeably diminishes. But our ears are actually capable of picking up sounds in 3 dimensions (for example, we hear when the wife upstairs stomps on the floor when the music is too loud).

Now I know that full-range tower speakers, or better yet, planar speakers, have a much "taller" presentation than a pair of bookshelves. If these full-range tall speakers are as good at placing instruments, then theoretically one should be able to hear instruments seemingly throughout the 3 dimensional space in front of our ears. Imagine for example sitting frontrow center in front of a large live orchestra and chorus. We should be able to place each voice and instrument in front of us both along the horizontal and along the vertical axes; and if the stage is curved around us, we should also be able to add depth to the positioning.

I think I've always taken this for granted and placed my seat so that my ears were at tweeter level, but a good pair of speakers should not only have width and depth, but also dimensionality. Instead of adjusting the placement of the couch, how high we sit on it and the toe-in of the speakers, a good pair of speakers should project a complete sound stage throughout the seating area, regardless of positioning. If so, then I don't think I've really had very good speakers in my system.

I know there are other attributes that go into making speakers, but am I correct about this one?

Night...

When I was able to finally listen to some really good setups and even when I got my T6's last year...I finally broke through to that new level of audio reproduction, which includes depth. Good speakers can typically create imaging and a good sonic performance left to right, but it is only the great speakers out there that can also add those dimensions of depth, as in front to back. Because I don't have high ceilings, I am limited to what I can vertically, but again, much of the sound is coming forward without as much height as you might expect (to use your illustration) from a live orchestra, which when you are sitting in a room with good acoustics, the sound swells around you. Sitting directly in front does enable you to give some approximation to where the positioning is of all instruments.

[JohnMichael]

Bobsticks I am glad you are receiving care and should be well soon. After all no one should live with the Bose sound full time. I can relate to delaying trips to the doctor. You go for one complaint and they want to poke around looking for something else. Last time I went he came bounding in the room with a gloved hand and a tube of KY. What no wine, flowers not even dinner first?

[Rich-n-Texas]

You guys, DON'T take your health for granted! After years of concerts, shotgun blasts and NASCAR races, I've lost some high frequency hearing loss in one ear, and not only has it had an effect on my balance, it's also effected my ability to discern high frequencies when in the listening room. The extremely tiny hairs that line your eardrum and send signals to the brain can essentially break due to the shock, and they don't grow back.

Because of my family history, I stay right on top of my health, which includes yearly blood tests, prostate cancer screenings (no I DON'T enjoy that one!), and other cancer tests that I have a family history of. The only thing I have trouble with is staying motivated to get to the gym regularly. The preventative measures you take while you're still young will pay dividends when you're older, trust me!

Standard operating procedure is to guzzle NyQuil Green Death with numerous hot toddies at night and bolster it with borderline unethical amounts of Sudafed during the day to remain standing.
This would explain the recent rash of bizzare YouTube posts I'd suspect! :rolleyes5:

[RoyY51]

I used to have a hearing problem on a semi-regular basis. I finally went to my doctor and had him take a look. It turns out that I produce earwax faster than is common for most people. The doctor said that he thinks it's a natural defense mechanism that is triggered by being subjected to loud sounds for a extended period of time. He sees a lot of musicians and concert-goers with the same problem. So, now I have the wax removed on a regular basis and the problem is solved. The doc also said that swabbing inside the ear with a Q-Tip is usually counter-productive because it tends to just smear the wax around instead of removing it. You also run the risk of tearing or even puncturing the eardrum which would make your hearing loss considerably more permanent.

[ForeverAutumn]

Bobsticks, I'm glad to hear (pardon the pun :) ) that you're on the mend. I have asthma and bad allergies. As a result, I am prone to respiratory and sinus infections which often affect my hearing. So, I can sympathize. Be thankful that it's only temporary.

My husband experienced some serious hearing loss over the last few years. It got to the point where he had to turn the TV up so loud to hear it that the volume made my ears hurt. He finally had surgery last February to correct it and his hearing has been 90% restored. The problem is hereditary and the surgery didn't work for his younger brother who has had to wear a hearing aid since his early 20s.

[Finch Platte]

What?

[Finch Platte]

Bobsticks I am glad you are receiving care and should be well soon. After all no one should live with the Bose sound full time. I can relate to delaying trips to the doctor. You go for one complaint and they want to poke around looking for something else. Last time I went he came bounding in the room with a gloved hand and a tube of KY. What no wine, flowers not even dinner first?

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/25/images/fletch.jpg

"Mooooooon Riverrrrrr! You using the whole fist, Doc?"

[nightflier]

Fletch! Boy it's been a while since I've seen that movie. Whatever happened to Chevy Chase, anyhow?

I should apologize for hijacking the thread earlier, but it was something that just dawned on me. And I've been at this hobby for over a decade! Wonder if loud concerts also affect one's intelligence....

[musicman1999]

I must admit that when i read the thread title my first thought was,temporary hearing loss,what a great name for a band,then i opened the thread and realized that that was not what it was about.Good name for a band however.

bill

[bobsticks]

I am a nocturnal creature by nature and after a slothful day of sulking and sleeping I am up and about. Feeling relatively human too. Now it just feels like there is a thin veil over the source of sounds. Unsettling to be sure but worlds apart from the depressing realities of the last few days.
I'm taking Factive (insert Trademark demarcation) and it seems to be doing the trick. I'm in pharmaceuticals and I'd never heard of it so evidently it's at least relatively new. If ya got crud his stuff will take care of it.

Thanks for the wellwishes.

[bobsticks]

This would explain the recent rash of bizzare YouTube posts I'd suspect! :rolleyes5:

Hey c'mon man, that ish was fun. Sometimes we need a break from the daily indie/jazz/prog/speed whatever. A balanced diet is important.

Having left my twenties behind tis a sobering thought that the knee surgeries, broken hands and the general malaise of substance abuse from yesteryear might really leave a lasting impression on the body. Good call on the "taking for granted" part.

NP: 2935

[kexodusc]

Get well soon, Mr. Sticks.

I've lost hearing in my left ear twice - first time was just some complications after pneumonia that sound pretty similar to yours actually. 2nd time I took a slapshot in the ear and did some pretty bad damage. This was an aweful week or so of getting dizzy, nauseous, and being very itch from the cuts getting infected.

Seems you and I have the same cold remedy cocktail, substitute the hot toddies for some of this lemon sudafed drink stuff they have in Canada called Neo Citran and we're there..

[basite]

Best wishes, and get well soon.

I already hate it when I'm having a cold, which also affects hearing...

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

[GMichael]

This thread reminds me of something an older man said to me years ago at work. I was 21 and was spending most of every paycheck Friday nights. He was in his sixties and was taking every vitamin ever thought of. He told me that we spend the first 25 years of out lives tearing our bodies appart. Then we spend the rest of our lives trying to put it back together.

Take care of yourselves guys. Start now.