Post by copperx on Aug 6, 2022 1:51:46 GMT -6
I recently had an ear infection and had partial hearing loss due to it, so I went to an audiologist. The infection resolved, but tests showed that I can only hear up to 14.5 kHz in one ear and 16 kHz in the other, to which the doctor said it's "fantastic" for my age (I'm 40). That's of course, complete BS, as I would be probably disqualified from, say, mastering music for young people or anyone with balanced hearing. I guess my hearing is still great for understanding speech, which is what audiologists focus on.
Which makes me wonder, why aren't we skeptical of gear designers who are past middle age? I hate to bring up this topic, as it could be taken as ageism; however, it's a fact that hearing acuity decreases as we get older. Take the late Rupert Neve, who was designing equipment well beyond his 80s. How much was he able to listen? Probably almost nothing over 10kHz. How was he able to judge the high end or the behavior of the 'silk' feature on his Portico gear? Can that be determined by math alone? And perhaps there's something that I do not understand about the aging process. Does hearing remain flat below the 'lost' frequencies as we age? or do we develop hills and valleys?
Now, old mixing engineers working well into old age I can understand, because most decisions are about the midrange, and the mastering engineer will be able to fix any problems with the high end.
Has anyone been severely afected by this? And how did you come to terms with it?
I guess I'm just trying to come to terms with getting older and how that affects making decisions in audio.
