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Date: May 06, 2012 at 21:25:45
From: Polydactyl in N. Bay, [DNS_Address]
Subject: PC headphones on..this may be silly to ask, but |
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How is it that I can hear outside helicopters and sutble low roars of trucks starting up nearby? The outside sounds seem way too magnified. Is this normal?
I do have a smart meter on the other side of the wall so it's possible my brain is getting too fried to answer these questions for myself, LOL.
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[2121] [2142] |
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2121 |
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Date: May 06, 2012 at 23:40:23
From: Nadine, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: PC headphones on..this may be silly to ask, but |
URL: http://www.evelyn.co.uk/Resources/Essays/Hearing%20Essay.pdf |
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From an essay by deaf musician Evelyn Glennie:
Hearing is basically a specialized form of touch. Sound is simply vibrating air which the ear picks up and converts to electrical signals, which are then interpreted by
the brain. The sense of hearing is not the only sense that can do this, touch can do this too. If you are standing by the road and a large truck goes
by, do you hear or feel the vibration? The answer is both. With very low frequency vibration the ear starts becoming inefficient and the rest of the body's sense of
touch starts to take over. For some reason we tend to make a distinction between hearing a sound and feeling a vibration, in reality they are the same thing. It is
interesting to note that in the Italian language this distinction does not exist. The verb 'sentire' means to hear and the same verb in the reflexive form 'sentirsi'
means to feel. Deafness does not mean that you can't hear, only that there is something wrong with the ears. Even someone who is totally deaf can still hear/feel
sounds.
If we can all feel low frequency vibrations why can't we feel higher vibrations? It is my belief that we can, it's just that as the frequency gets higher and our ears
become more efficient they drown out the more subtle sense of 'feeling' the vibrations. I spent a lot of time in my youth (with the help of my school
Percussion teacher Ron Forbes) refining my ability to detect vibrations. I would stand with my hands against the classroom wall while Ron played notes on the
timpani (timpani produce a lot of vibrations). Eventually I managed to distinguish the rough pitch of notes by associating where on my body I felt the sound with the
sense of perfect pitch I had before losing my hearing. The low sounds I feel mainly in my legs and feet and high sounds might be particular places on my face, neck
and chest.
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Date: May 09, 2012 at 21:00:26
From: Polydactyl in N. Bay, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: PC headphones on..this may be silly to ask, but |
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Thank you for such a sound-literate response! We have colloquial sayings, 'I hear 'ya' equal to 'I feel 'ya' so I guess there is a kinesthetic association with hearing. Never thought about it like that. You're right that it was a very low rumbling I heard on the headphones that normally I could easily cancel out.
How cool your teacher taught you to Feeeeeel the vibrations! What's interesting about that is in psyche meditation classes people (in a small line) are taught to feel the voice of the person they are 'reading' and agree on the color vibrations they get from the voice. Kinesthetic, the only way to fly- :) I've enjoyed music a great deal in my life because of this awareness but never learned to play anything.
I had really good pitch when I was younger so much so that I remember a visiting guitar player in high school who brought tears to my eyes because he was so off pitch. Once I went to a DD Bridgwater concert with a friend where DD hit one of those 'glass shattering notes' that literally tickled the insides of our ears. I think we were at the Orpheum. Anyhoo, this friend grabbed my leg (he was a drummer) and said, 'Did you HEAR(feel) that'? I was ecstatic! My hearing is not bionic (beyond normal hi and low ends) like it was but it's still good enough to hope for another concert like that- :)
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