learning to listen

While it is true, as Megasam suggests, that some people simply have better (more sensitive) hearing than others, I don't believe the issue is hearing acuity as much as it is being the type of person who is open to the particular set of emotional offerings and challenges that music gives an involved listener. I know some who are as passionate about sports or cooking, for example, as I am about music; but as unbelievable as it may seem to me, when it comes to music, they can take it or leave it. Sure, they may occasionally hum along to a tune on the car radio, but it certainly is not a priority in their lives; as it is to some for whom it is more of a need, a need to listen to music. Of course, it is very possible to develop a better appreciation of music through more involved listening or coaching. These same "tin ears" might be the ones who are capable of recognizing the different mating calls of various types of ducks. But some people are, at the risk of being politically incorrect, emotionally constipated in this respect. After all, good music will move us, make us feel angry, or sexy, make us tap our feet or dance; to some, unfortunately, this is just too powerfull a force to lose control to.

Then you have the listeners for whom the act of listening to music has to be, by necessity, an uncomplicated act; even if all that we are talking about is the possibly imposing personality, to them, of electronic gadgetry. They are content listening on the simplest, perhaps only a table radio, of systems. While there is no doubt that high-end audio lets us hear more of the music, I think it's important for us audio nuts to remember that the truth of the matter is that the truly important point or message of any music usually gets through on all but the worst (distorted) means of playback. Curiously, I find that self proclaimed "tin ears" are usually music lovers; sure they can hear the difference, they're just not interested in all the trappings of high end audio.

I suspect most adult Americans have slightly worse hearing in their left ears, the result of years of driving with the window down. And those of us who have attended loud rock concerts may have had uneven damage due to where we sat. These things might balance out over time and might be inconsequential anyway, I can't say.

I always hold the phone in my left ear. rhljazz suggests that [my] hearing may be therefore more acute in that ear. Interesting! I always thought it might be less acute from all that time listening: the phone is low-volume, but it's sound nontheless, and with considerable distortion.

Good thread.

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.

Good post just above Rhl, I agree. Cheers. Craig