Hearing Matters

On the far left, when I owned several kinds of eyeliner.

If you know anything about music, you probably know the band above.

Just kidding. This was my rock band, and we were huge in the late nineties when people got onto the internet through the CD-ROMs that came in the mail.

And by "we were huge," I mean we could headline at the medium-sized, popular clubs in our hometown on the weekend. So by huge, I mean not huge at all.

Aside from all the memories, one reminder of these days of yore is that I struggle with conversations in large, noisy rooms. I am OK at home or the office, but when there is ambient noise, it's hard to discern what people are saying to me. This started in my thirties.

OK. So if you don't recognize me, what about this slightly more famous rock star?

Pete Townshend rocking the coiled guitar cord for some reason.

Pete Townshend of The Who suffered from tinnitus or ringing ears like many other musicians. One of the things he stated was that it wasn't being on stage that hurt his hearing. It was the years of using headphones turned up too loud that musicians constantly do when practicing and recording. I believe this.

Human ears are great at recognizing drastic changes in volume but bad at knowing when noise is too loud when it's continuous.

Today, when we are all on Zoom or listening to music in our flow state, we need to realize that we may be wearing down the frequencies our ears and brains can process.

Here is a test. If you have headphones on, turn down the volume by half. Can you still hear everything after a few seconds of adjustment? If so, it was too loud. Turn them down until you can't hear at all, then adjust up slightly.

That's today's tip from a Gen-X bassist trying to save you from being the weirdo holding a giant funnel up to your head at the important client meeting and screaming, "WAT?"

P.S. I am not a doctor. Please protect your ears. I want you to hear me when I complain.