Do we all hear the same?

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Do we all hear the same?

Postby Hugh-AR » 07 Apr 2018 12:10

Do we all hear the same?

My answer to that has to be NO! For starters, I do not hear the higher frequencies. I consulted my doctor a couple of years back and he arranged for me to have a hearing test at the hospital (NHS). They prescribed some hearing aids (one for each ear) which these days are top of the range digital ones - none of this analogue rubbish of the past, with all the 'squeals' they used to produce. And for me, being a pensioner, the hearing aids were FREE. So now, when I go out I can hear the birds 'chirping', and speech is a lot clearer to me too (I think it's 's' and 't' that I missed out on).

When choosing Registrations and playing the organ it is always important to get the 'balance' right between the various sounds. Inevitably what one sets up must depend on how we hear the sound in the first place. So although I know the sound is right for my hearing, how does what we play sound to somebody else? I know that in particular the higher frequencies produced by the rhythm (cymbals, top hats etc.) can make a tremendous difference to the overall sound. If I don't have my hearing aids in when I set up a Registration I will over-compensate for these sounds, making it almost impossible for a person with normal hearing to listen to. And when I get my hearing aids in, everything sounds very harsh and raspish. So I have got into the habit of wearing my hearing aids all the time.

But then what happens when wearing headphones? The microphones for the hearing aids are sitting over the top of my ear (not in the ear canal) and I don't always get the headset over my ears in the best position to hear all the frequencies as they should sound.

Another thing worth mentioning with headphones. I have a pair of 'walk about' radio headphones which I use for listening to music. These headphones are not as 'rich sounding' as those connected directly to the output jack of my organ, but they are acceptable. They also have a volume control on them, which is great for when I am wandering about, but I would never use these headphones when making a recording, as with two adjustments for Volume I would probably end up with the Master Volume Control of the organ in the wrong place.

Another pair of headphones I bought were advertised as having 'accentuated bass response', which sounded a great idea at the time. But if I wear these when recording then I turn the Bass Volume of the organ down to compensate, and you can hardly hear the bass when playing the recording back normally.

Thinking about how things used to sound before I had my hearing aids, I remember as a youngster building amplifiers with 'tone controls'; Bass and Treble (and 'Middle'). More often than not I would remove most of the treble when listening to music as it all sounded 'tinny' to me.

So no, we do not all hear the same; and we hear things differently as we get older.

The Moral of this story? If you wear hearing aids, make sure you are wearing them when you play your keyboard. Then what sounds right to you will sound right to everybody else. And preferably, don't wear headphones when you are setting up a Registration to play a particular piece. But you may have to wear headphones when you are playing so as not to disturb everybody else (eg. neighbours).

Hugh
It's all about the music ♫ ♪ ♫ Organ: Yamaha AR80 & Keyboard: Tyros 4
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Re: Do we all hear the same?

Postby Brian007 » 07 Apr 2018 14:57

Hi Hugh,

I use headphones all the time, for just about everything, I should really buy some decent studio monitors as that's what the experts say you should use for recording. but then you have to take into account the room acoustics ? :shock: Think I will stick with my headphones.


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