RE: a woman's ears

[Goddess <thefates@concentric.net>]

  Thanks to both of you for this msg, it says alot.  I think a lot of
things play into this whole idea, hearing differences, personal preference,
individual threasholds, quality of systems, type and style of music,
volume... etc...
smiles,  and happy listening...

Corynne

te:
>Kim illumined:
>>Just so's you know.....As I understand the physiological issue, it's 
>>not 
>volume or high frequencies that cause the discomfort in women. >It's
particular 
>types of non-harmonic distortion in the audio system, >which will tend to 
>be 
>worse at higher volume. I've seen several >discussions of this in audio 
>engineering journals, usually under the >context of how to get a wider
customer 
>base for audio products.
>
>Hmmm.  This is really interesting.  What are these types of n-h 
>distortion 
>called?  (So I can find out more about this.)  Also, a question comes to
mind 
>regarding human sensitivity in detecting distortion.  Assuming we're 
>talking 
>about musicians or people with well-trained, discriminating hearing: is
there 
>inharmonic distortion occurring below the range of conscious perception 
>that 
>affects us negatively before we actually are aware of hearing it?  Might 
>I 
>start feeling uncomfortable before I am able to consciously identify this
type 
>of distortion, even if I was somehow miraculously blessed with a superbly 
>sophisticated ear?  (My question comes in part from reading about phase 
>distortion in amplifiers or equalizers.  My text source tells me the
associated 
>slight reduction of response is generally not noticeable.  Does it, 
>however, 
>have any measurable effect on the listener, even when not audibly 
>perceived?)
>
>I'm also curious about lab standards by which something as subjective as 
>perception is meaningfully quantified.  Can anyone recommend a good source
for 
>info on that one?
>
>>These inharmonic distortions add frequency components to the >sound in a 
>particular way that women tend to have a negative >reaction to while men 
>typically don't notice.
>
>Sarajane's post mentioned differences in inner ear structure between
genders. 
> Is that the mechanism in this case?
>
>>It is very common with cheap home/audio stereos, cheap PA >systems, 
>cheap 
>music gear, etc. It also happens in more expensive >gear that isn't 
>designed 
>very well. As the volume is turned up on these >systems, the distortions
start 
>to happen, and women will start to find it >unpleasant for physiological 
>reasons. On cleaner systems that don't >generate these distortions, the 
>discomfort doesn't happen.
>
>[snip]
>
>On a few occasions, the systems were pretty clean, high end.  On the 
>other 
>hand, as I recall, I wasn't necessarily the only one suffering; some of 
>the 
>boyz were also getting blasted.  Which probably just means that those of 
>us 
>copping to pain weren't trying to be as macho, we hadn't already toasted 
>our 
>eardrums, or we simply weren't as hell-bent on vaporizing ourselves out 
>of 
>existence...
>
>Maybe it's just a difference in individual thresholds. I've run across a
very 
>few musicians who consistently choose to play at *significantly* higher
volumes 
>than most (regardless of gender), yet have no detectable hearing loss 
>after 
>years and years of totally cranking their systems, and practically
stuffing 10 
>inch speakers in their ears.  (They also manage to drive everybody else 
>on 
>stage totally nuts!) -- And hey, talk about incompatibilities in a 
>relationship...  ;-)
>
>Anyway, thanks for the clarification, Kim.  Very useful info.
>
>laurie
>
>
>
>