I really think my left ear is better than my right...

[DaveBlack]

I've never been a loud music listener or have done anything that would be detrimental to my hearing but the more I mix and the better I get at it, whether its through headphones or regular monitors, I'm starting to notice I either subconciously favor my left ear or I have some kind of damage to my right. Anyone have a problem like this? I wanna see if I can find a good hearing test online.

 

[FloridaRolf]

Same here, but I still hope that the D/A part of my soundcard is just fucked

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

There's this one excellent hearing test online (Seriously, all the others I've found have been useless), but it's always a pain in the ass to find, and seems I haven't got it bookmarked on this computer :/ To get proper evaluation of your hearing, you should visit an audiologist, though.

Anyway, I had the exact same "problem" you are describing. It almost drove me nuts, I couldn't even listen to music without constantly flipping the stereo channels or muting the channels back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on. After going to different hearing tests, it turned out I have excellent (and equal) hearing in both of my ears. I still kinda notice the difference, but at least now I know there's nothing wrong with my ears and it's probably just the way my brain works.

 

[Erkan]

Well, isn't our left ear tuned more for human voices and shit so we have better mid-definition in our left ear? I read something like that in some science article ... can't remember when and where.

 

[ze kink]

Anyway, I had the exact same "problem" you are describing. It almost drove me nuts, I couldn't even listen to music without constantly flipping the stereo channels or muting the channels back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on. After going to different hearing tests, it turned out I have excellent (and equal) hearing in both of my ears. I still kinda notice the difference, but at least now I know there's nothing wrong with my ears and it's probably just the way my brain works.

Whoa, that's exactly what happened to me as well The doctor who did the hearing test to me was really surprised that my hearing is identical in both ears, apparently it's quite rare.

 

[DaveBlack]

seriously, it's comforting to know I'm not the only one having issues with it. I'm all nervous because I'm thinking how am I supposed to become the greatest mixer the worlds ever seen with only one good ear lol.

Jarkko- it really is driving me nuts!! I do the same thing when I'm mixing at home like "What the fuck is up with this guitar on the right channel!!" And yes, the minimal tests I did find online were useless. They give ya like 5 tones from 500 up to 8k and I can hear them all fine. Thats not a real hearing test, that's like a test to see if your completely deaf.

Erkan - That's actually really interesting man, I would like to check that article out if you ever come across it again.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Jarkko- it really is driving me nuts!! I do the same thing when I'm mixing at home like "What the fuck is up with this guitar on the right channel!!" And yes, the minimal tests I did find online were useless. They give ya like 5 tones from 500 up to 8k and I can hear them all fine. Thats not a real hearing test, that's like a test to see if your completely deaf.

I can't find the test I mentioned for the life of me, but basically it had quite a nice spectrum of frequencies from 20Hz to 20kHz, and you had to turn the volume up for every tone until you could hear it, and you could compare the results for ears individually or together. Dig around, it has to still be somewhere

 

[JGolden]

Well, isn't our left ear tuned more for human voices and shit so we have better mid-definition in our left ear? I read something like that in some science article ... can't remember when and where.

I've heard something like this, but I think it's reversed. Our right ear is supposed to be better at picking out things like speech due to it's ability to catch fast patterns and things that exist in language, whereas the left ear is supposedly better at detecting pitch, timbre, and loudness.

 

[Skinny Viking]

seriously, it's comforting to know I'm not the only one having issues with it. I'm all nervous because I'm thinking how am I supposed to become the greatest mixer the worlds ever seen with only one good ear lol.

Beethoven was deaf so don't worry about it

 

[Dalinkwent48@aim.com]

And so am i

 

[Erkan]

I've heard something like this, but I think it's reversed. Our right ear is supposed to be better at picking out things like speech due to it's ability to catch fast patterns and things that exist in language, whereas the left ear is supposedly better at detecting pitch, timbre, and loudness.

Yea it might be that way, I just know our pair of ears work differently and they are NOT equal.

 

[DaveBlack]

Beethoven was deaf so don't worry about it

well that lazy bastard didnt have to make sure his snare was centered in his overheads

 

[StefTD]

I think it's really normal that you hear better on one ear.
I don't care due to the fact that my hearing is only like 70% of the average
hearing ability on my right ear and 60% on my left ear so
I did like 5 or 6 hearing tests since I am 1 1/2 years old, they give you coloured toys
which make some strange sounds and they ask you if you hear something
and put some electrods on your head stuff, my father said I thought it was game.
The tinnitus doesn't help very much but all in all I just get away with it.
If you start trying to hear certain things you will realize them, even if one ear hears a bit worse
(yeah this won't work if you're completely deaf), most people just don't listen carefully enough.
The left right thing only gets me when I record some guitars.
I use 2 impulses most of the time, pan 1 right and the other one left and I most of the time
the one on the left side is louder, but nowadays I just reverse the panning of the impulses for the
left track and the problem is solved

 

[plague_rider]

The only issue i've ever had with hearing is at a live show or at a club, i can only make out what people say in my right ear, but when i listen to anything normally I don't notice a difference... (but then maybe i wouldnt.... : (

 

[Skinny Viking]

well that lazy bastard didnt have to make sure his snare was centered in his overheads

True

He only had to contend with the transposition of an ENTIRE ORCHESTRA!!!

I figured I'd yell out the last part ...

since you're going deaf

 

[B36arin]

I've been noticing the same thing, and I've also taken a hearing test which confirmed that I have excellent hearing. When I started noticing it I got a bit nervous, played around with balance controls and stuff like that. But since I took my hearing test and I've found out that the ears are not supposed to be identical, I've stopped worrying about it.

 

[Schlumpfkralle]

The only issue i've ever had with hearing is at a live show or at a club, i can only make out what people say in my right ear, but when i listen to anything normally I don't notice a difference... (but then maybe i wouldnt.... : (

Ha, same here... Never really cared about it, but good to know i am not alone...

 

[DaveBlack]

True

He only had to contend with the transposition of an ENTIRE ORCHESTRA!!!

I figured I'd yell out the last part ...

since you're going deaf

hahahaha...nice. Hey man, where do you live in philly? I'm originally from the northeast but when I was 23 I got my own place and moved out to trevose.

 

[Skinny Viking]

hahahaha...nice. Hey man, where do you live in philly? I'm originally from the northeast but when I was 23 I got my own place and moved out to trevose.

Hahaha

I lived in Trevose for a couple years, right off Rt.1 past the pawn shop on the left

actually at the moment I'm 2 streets from the border of NE (Bensalem area) off Rt.13, couple minutes from the 95 entrance and woodhaven entrance... might be shuffling over into NE again in a few weeks though

 

[DaveBlack]

Hahaha

I lived in Trevose for a couple years, right off Rt.1 past the pawn shop on the left

actually at the moment I'm 2 streets from the border of NE (Bensalem area) off Rt.13, couple minutes from the 95 entrance and woodhaven entrance... might be shuffling over into NE again in a few weeks though

No way! Colonial Point apartments!?!?! Im in K4 haha. I used to live more near the firehouse on street road too in the arbor lane apartments but they kicked us out when they found out I had a dog. Don't go back to philly unless you work there. you'll get murdered in taxes. I couldn't believe how much more I was getting in my check simply by not living or working in the city.

I've derailed my own thread lol.