Let me clarify my initial thread. My theory is that every one unknowingly adapts to the specific sonic experience of telephone listening to improve his/her recognition of what is coming through the receiver and that this is a specific frequency range and set of distortions. The ear/brain is able to maximize this through repeated conditioning. I prepose that if I spent a considerable time listening on the phone with the opposite ear that I normally use, that at some point in time I would find no difference in perceived sound from one ear to the other. Every one has an incentive to able discern as best as possible as to what information is coming through the telephone receiver and are able to adapt to it. As some of you have mentioned, not every one has an incentive to listen to and appreciate music let alone a high-end system. However, given motivation of what ever sort to get people interested in home audio, I believe that even someone who proclaims tin ears can be educated as to what to listen for and by what means to enable them to hear some of the things that us audiophiles hear and find stimulating and satisfying in our music reproduction systems. I don't know any specialty that doesn't take a certain amount of interest/study by the individual in order to have a better understanding and appreciation of that endeavor. I am not educated or experienced in wine tasting so I might enjoy a 4.00 bottle as much as the afficiondo enjoys his 200.00 bottle but thats not to say I could not be educated, it's just that I have no motivation in this direction, and so that's my correlation to our learned hobby. To sum it up, to appreciate high-end audio, you need the motivation number one, but not golden ears, just the desire and education to appreciate the experience from the great equipment to the widely diversified realm of music.
learning to listen
I'm sure most of you have had the experience of telling someone of your passion of listening to your high-end audio system and the other party remarks, "I have a tin ear and couldn't hear the difference."
A simple conversation came up in the office today relating to stiff necks as a result of talking on the phone. I suggested switching the phone to the other ear. The response was that they could not hear the phone conversation as well out of the other ear, besides they they were not able to write if needed with their other hand. I am able to confirm this observation. When listening to my music system at home, I don't feel that i have a bias as to one ear or the other, but on the phone, I can find that it only sounds correct from my left ear. I am right handed. Why is this? I believe that listening on the phone or otherwise is a learned experience. It should sound the same from one ear to the other if you have no hearing defects but the reality is that for everyone I have asked it isn't so. So, it would appear that the increased sensitivity required to clearly hear a phone conversation is a universally "learned" experience and that any person is capable of also learning to appreciate the benefits of a so called high-end audio system. The claim of the tin ears is vastly over rated. If you can concentrate enough to understand a phone conversation, you can train your ears/brain to appreciate a fine music system. I can not explain otherwise why the phone sounds totally different from one ear to the other but everything else is in natural balance other than the learned experience of talking on the phone with my left ear since childhood. If the average "Joe" can hear and talk on the minature cell phones, he can certainly be trained to appreciate the better quality audio components on the market.
s
A simple conversation came up in the office today relating to stiff necks as a result of talking on the phone. I suggested switching the phone to the other ear. The response was that they could not hear the phone conversation as well out of the other ear, besides they they were not able to write if needed with their other hand. I am able to confirm this observation. When listening to my music system at home, I don't feel that i have a bias as to one ear or the other, but on the phone, I can find that it only sounds correct from my left ear. I am right handed. Why is this? I believe that listening on the phone or otherwise is a learned experience. It should sound the same from one ear to the other if you have no hearing defects but the reality is that for everyone I have asked it isn't so. So, it would appear that the increased sensitivity required to clearly hear a phone conversation is a universally "learned" experience and that any person is capable of also learning to appreciate the benefits of a so called high-end audio system. The claim of the tin ears is vastly over rated. If you can concentrate enough to understand a phone conversation, you can train your ears/brain to appreciate a fine music system. I can not explain otherwise why the phone sounds totally different from one ear to the other but everything else is in natural balance other than the learned experience of talking on the phone with my left ear since childhood. If the average "Joe" can hear and talk on the minature cell phones, he can certainly be trained to appreciate the better quality audio components on the market.
s