Does Hearing Loss Disqualify Me from Audiophiledom?


For one thing, it makes it really challenging to take advice from the experts with good ears.  As a result of loss in the higher register, tinitits and unbalanced hearing, I tend to go for dynamics and soundstage as opposed to accuracy and subtleties.  How do others who suffer from hearing issues "offset" their challenges?  Can we still be in the club?

Current Rig - Bluesound Node 2i > Danafrips Ares II > Freya + > Krell Duo 300 XD > Forte IVs / SVS PB 4000.  In case you have suggestions...

And yes, the Forte's can be a bit bright and fatiguing with certain music.  

gruvjet

                                AudioPHILE = audio LOVER (literally)

     iow: If you love AUDIO, you qualify (irrespective of anything else, including hearing).

      'Music' differs from 'audio' in definition, but many conflate them (semantics).

      I'm quite certain: Beethoven was still a MUSICPHILE, though he had gone deaf between his twenties and forties.

      *There wasn't much in the way of 'audio', back in Ludwig's day, for him to,"love". 

                              Would he have, "loved" it? 

       *TOTALLY: non sequitur to the initial thread topic, but: semantic gymnastics are fun!

@dadork 

Thank you for that insight.  I will be consulting an audiologist for a cleaning and have them check my pharyngotympanic tube.  And I agree with your “turn it up” approach. I would have to invest in an EQ. Any recommendations?

Was the treatment you are undergoing prescribed by a doctor?

This is exactly why I started the thread. Hopefully it will allow me the ability to hear the affect on such crazy things as speaker cable risers!

@gruvejet     Thank you.  The amount of pressure seems to determne the HF volume and the HF response can go above what I recall used to be flat.  Regulating the pressure can enable the right response to be obtained.

This is very interesting and as we both postulate may lead to a solution to our problems.  I have quite serious sinusitis that varies in intensity from time to time.  I find that having wax cleared make a bit of an improvement but nowhere near as much as pressurising.  I am wondering if a medical procedure might exist or be developed that could make permanent the pressurised effect?   Anyone here an ENT specialist who can comment with a degree of authority?

@dadork    I didn't think a mosquito sounds very HF so I looked at the paper cited.  The frequency varies by species between 340 and 750 Hz.  So not HF at all.

Great subject! I started noticing tinnitus several years ago. I went to have my hearing evaluated, and found that I struggled to hear high frequency tones above 8 kHz. I was bummed. But then I sort of “self-evaluated” my music listening, by listening to familiar music from the past that I used as demo material 30-40 years ago, to try to identify what might be different/missing. I can absolutely still pick out areas of the songs that were points I’d evaluate for sound quality, but I also noticed certain high frequency notes in some songs were “missing”, or just lower in level relative to the rest of the sounds. Last year I upgraded from Magnepan 1.7i to 3.7 speakers, which I had been putting off, thinking that the addition of the ribbon tweeter would be lost on me. That turned out to be false. I can hear and appreciate the improvement that ribbon makes in the sound presentation. How? I have no idea, but I’m glad I went for it! I’ve also been evaluating some amplifiers, to choose the best fit for my speakers/room/preferences. I can CLEARLY hear the differences between these amplifiers in my system. I’ve done phono cartridge comparisons in the last few years, and I had no problem sorting out the sounds of those. I’m in the process of working to improve what I use for streaming, and I can hear differences in quality between the music services I’m trying. I just started a Qobuz subscription to try that as well. My point is that even with the knowledge that my hearing is in decline, I can still evaluate differences in quality, and I still enjoy good sound from my system.