Speaker placement for brightness control.

I've been involved in several threads involving, among other subjects, my near preoccupation with controlling shrill sounds. I have a hearing issue called hyperacusis which makes me very sensitive to certain frequencies and dB levels. I've tried many things such as changing speakers, amplifiers, interconnects, speaker wires and added DACs and experimented with speaker toe in.

These changes did not solve my problem in any a way noticeable except for a tube DAC between the two CD players and the amp.

THEN, we remodeled the listening room ( living room) adding a large area rug over the wooden floor which I think helped a little. I was also forced to raise the bookshelf speaker pedestals about 10" in order for the speakers to fire over some newly placed furniture. Although this places them well above what I've seen is recommended, the improvement is quite noticeable even for me.

This may seem like an unorthodox approach to reducing brightness and in this case it was accidental and I possibly compromised some other aspect of listening. However, I'm leaving it this way.

One thought that comes to mind is that the tweeters are now directed about a foot above my ears and not directly in line with them. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone else and am not even entirely sure that some of this is not just in my head. Any responses / opinions will be appreciated.