Subject: Re: painfully loud sound From: Chris Stecker <cstecker(at)UMICH.EDU> Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 12:52:07 -0800I have experienced a similar sensation while experimenting with analog electronic music circuits. For me, the best triggering stimulus tends to be fairly intense, high-pass, with a low fundamental (very "hollow" sounding), and one ear experiences a sort of "fluttering" or "pushing" sensation, synchronized with amplitude modulations in the stimulus. It's not painful in the same way that very loud sound is, but definitely uncomfortable. I wouldn't describe the sensation as "warm" or "full" though, and it definitely ceased after I turned off the stimulus. I've guessed at a middle-ear mechanism but it's outside my expertise. I haven't even done any careful testing with a calibrated sound source. -Chris -- G. Christopher Stecker, Ph.D. Research Psychologist, VA Research Service cstecker(at)ebire.org / 925-372-2000 extension 5073 Human Cognitive Neurophysiology Lab VA Northern California Health Care System 150 Muir Road, 151-I / Martinez CA 94553 On Friday 12 November 2004 10:21 am, Bob Masta wrote: > This may be unrelated, but I have on occasion experienced > what I would call "uncomfortable" sounds. They were not > very loud, but were distinctly distorted. The symptoms > were feelings of warmth and fullness in the ear canal, > which persisted for many minutes after the end of the > sound. My working hypothesis at the time was that perhaps > the middle ear muscles became activated by higher centers > due to a perception that the sound was obnoxious enough > to need muting. I never got around to testing this, and I > have long since disposed of the one source I owned that > could induce the phenomenon: A really cheap portable > radio. (The other instance that I recall experiencing this > was at a dance recital where the sound system failed and > they brought a "boom box" onstage to continue the performance.) > > It got me wondering about a phenomenon that "golden ears" > audiophiles sometimes complain about, which they call > "listening fatigue". I have never heard any real description of > this, let alone an explanation or hypothesis. (I guess that > audiophiles never ask about it because, hey, if you have to > ask, you certainly aren't one of the cognoscenti!) Anyway, > assuming that it has some basis in fact, this might be the > same phenomenon I experienced. > > Any thoughts on this? > > > Bob Masta > > audioATdaqartaDOTcom