Caffeine will do that. But really, you make salient points. In regards to simple hearing loss it of course affects bass perception. And with such db levels reached now in so many varied venues it is a wonder so many can hear anything at all. My rant is watching a car with an overly loud system rattling my door panels park, driver exit, open a back door and pull a small child from a car seat. So your child will be deaf at age 5? Good plan.
Bass rant
Does anyone else surmise that the minions weaned on exaggerated THX sound in sticky floored cineplex's, sold on window-shaking subwoofers in their motor vehicles, and subjected to hearing loss in loud stadium concerts - might have trouble understanding what constitutes an accurate bass guitar tone/timbre/volume? I read post after post on this and other forums of those decrying their systems lack of bass. While I grew up listening to a lot of live music in nightclubs and stadiums from Bobby Short at The Carlyle, to Yo Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble, to John Fogerty at The Greek Theater, I believe I can differentiate the realism of an upright bass and one unnaturally amped (acoustic or electric), and yet I cannot understand all the bleeding over of the home theater systems exaggerated bass sound into many dedicated audiophile sound systems. Please educate me.