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Must Watch: Hearing Loss and Mixing

RogiervG said:
I already did that, but no difference unfortunately. Both ears, i have a hard time following conversation, while other sounds sources on the same db's are present. That's why i am i bit in doubt if this has to do with hearing or not.
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I have good hearing and can separate sounds/arrangements in songs better than the average (non-music) person, but often mishear people or randomly lose parts of what they're saying. I'm also not very good at remembering lyrics until I've heard a song a whole of times, though I remember the melody and phrasing just fine.

For me it's not an issue of hearing, but rather an issue of focus. When there are other sounds present I will often shift focus to them during a conversation and not realize it until I've already missed some words.

Speech recognition definitely goes beyond hearing, it's like when you read a whole paragraph in a book then later realize you had no idea what you just read even though you know you saw all the words.
 

KT Tunstall on her show-halting hearing loss​

After KT Tunstall postponed her touring plans over concerns she could become completely deaf, she's told the BBC about how she's struggled with hearing loss throughout her career.
She spoke to Colin Paterson about what she's been going through – and why she doesn't feel like she's going through it alone.

 
I fear for re-recording mixers, who spend long periods of time (10+ hour days) exposed to loud SPLs on the dub stage. Imagine how fast your ears get tired (& then damaged) mixing battle scenes or transforminators etc... #regretsy

I've had situations where I noticed a whine behind a line of dialog which the mixer couldn't hear.
One technique that helped him was playing the sound at half speed so he could find the frequency and then he simply doubled that freq to notch it out for real speed playback. Maybe not so useful to play your music at half speed, but it will reveal the high frequencies if you have major hi freq loss.
Also a good reason to have an assistant/trainee with young ears!

Some suggestions for mixing loud film scenes in this thread:
gearspace.com

Forbidden subject - hearing damage - Gearspace.com

I found this thread in the 'Moan Zone' http://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan-...cant-hear.html This a very pertinent topic for feature mixers a
gearspace.com
 
Markrs said:

KT Tunstall on her show-halting hearing loss​

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Thx for posting this Markrs. Unrelenting tinnitus is maddening enough, but I have also experienced that temporary hearing loss she mentioned. It only lasts for a very short time, a minute or so, but is so disconcerting it feels like an eternity.
 
This is a good thread -- thanks to @Alchemedia and @robgb and others for confronting this.

I think headphones, specifically, are more dangerous than they seem. Even though I've known for years about the Pete Townshend thing, I've probably damaged my ears a bit. When I was in the military, I would do twelve-hour shifts on headphones. :confused: And I've always composed and mixed mostly on headphones, because I've rarely had a good space of my own where endless monitor play wouldn't disturb people.

I now definitely have some high-end hearing loss and very mild tinnitus. :-( Some of that is probably age-related, and I have always tried to keep my volumes low and take frequent breaks. Still, I can't believe it hasn't taken its toll. One of my big goals for this year is to try to set up an area where I can work more with monitors and less with headphones.
 
What I'm hearing on the video's intro music is Barry White's "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More Baby"...

When giggin' back in high school, my guitar amp was always on my left side during rehearsals and concerts.
Years later, I noticed that my left ear was not hearing the high frequencies that my right ear was hearing.
A visit to an audiologist confirmed that I have hearing loss from 6k on.
When mixing, I temporary boost this area on my left channel.
What other methods (plugins, etc.) would you recommend in my case?
 
artomatic said:
What I'm hearing on the video's intro music is Barry White's "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More Baby"...

When giggin' back in high school, my guitar amp was always on my left side during rehearsals and concerts.
Years later, I noticed that my left ear was not hearing the high frequencies that my right ear was hearing.
A visit to an audiologist confirmed that I have hearing loss from 6k on.
When mixing, I temporary boost this area on my left channel.
What other methods (plugins, etc.) would you recommend in my case?
Click to expand...
I’ve always used db killers for protection from loud stage amps.
In ‘95 I started using Custom silicon plugs with 4 way drivers, made for my ears, not all size fits one.

I’m using 12 way drivers now, and again custom made silicon.
My hearing was protected the day I started using them 26 years ago.

They’re mastering quality IEMs so they’re not cheap, but again made for my ears. I recently bought some HD headphones for my kid because also has the JHAudio Layla IEMs, but wanted the headset gaming combo.

He complained on his headphone out the volume was double to get the comfort of Custom silicon.

This is why I feel lucky I jumped all in at NAMM ’95 and got on the train.
Besides Herbie Hancock demoed the very first show and had EA Wedges to show for comparison.

The Layla’s aren’t cheap, but you get one set of ears.
Plus being wireless is where it’s at. Being handcuffed with curly Q cables, or your head being blown off by SPLs isn’t my idea of enjoying music.

Google Jerry Harvey. He’s even had keynote presentations at Google.
He’s even helped deaf people hear music for the first time ever.
He’ has the patents too. One of them passed in 6 months which shows you how good it is. Usually a couple years for most patents.
 
I'm wondering if using closed-back headphones (or some noise-cancelling ones) is not actually safer than speakers? Since you're isolated from surrounding noise, you can set a gain much lower making it safer for the hearing.
 
If it's bad for your ears, it could very well be bad for your brain. In a study of 639 adults ages 36 to 90, mild hearing loss was associated with a nearly twofold likelihood of dementia.

As a rule, if someone else can hear sound from your earbuds, they're too loud, says Nicholas Reed, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He also recommends carrying a pair of foam earplugs with you and using them at concerts or sporting events, and removing yourself from loud environments when possible. “If you are standing within 3 feet of someone and you can't hear them, the world around you is too loud,” he says.
--Nicole Pajer, AARP, August 6, 2021
 
Tinnitus is most likely the brain's neural response to the absence of physiological excitatory signals coming from the ears because of (partial) deafness i.e. as said before, the destruction of stereocilia (microcilia) inside the ear(s) because of long-term or loud exposure to sound. They start to mineralize and become stiff so cannot vibrate anymore in response to certain bands of frequencies.

So tinnitus is in fact similar to phantom limbs or phantom pain experienced by amputees where the brain creates an artificial response to a non-existant input signal. See for ex. neuroscientist Ramachandran's book "Phantoms in the Brain". His "mirror solution" in that case is as famous as it is surprising! :)

Tinnitus being neurological ("in your head") it can come and go, usually with level of stress (cortisol), meds, drugs & alcohol, certain foods, rest, etc. Anything that can affect your brain can also affect your tinnitus but the source of it is probably hearing loss, even partial or temporary (like a clogged inner ear) like it happened to my husband for a few weeks recently, and sure enough he developped temporary tinnitus. ;)
 
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