From Walkman to iPod

No discussion here in the Telegraph - just pictures of evolving equipment.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...portable-music-in-pictures.html?frame=2808392

 

I wonder what's next.
Watches containing music players and phones are just hitting the streets I think but I'm not convinced there is going to much demand beyond those who want the latest tech.

 

Surgical implants - the full Borg!

 

Considering that we'll all have perfect hearing I wonder if the HiFi arguments will come to an end. I suspect not!

 

Perfect hearing. I've just had a hearing test.

The right ear is good for my age (65)

Left ear? -65dB at 4kHz

It's a long term issue getting worse with age. 7 years ago it was -40dB at 4kHz

The audiologist was very thorough. First the test with headphones (earbuds, actually). Repeated using bone conduction from behind each ear. (This is to see if the problem is in the middle ear.) Repeated again on the left with white noise injected on the right so I could not hear across my scull. With interference the two curves leaft earbud and left bone conduction - matched. Middle ears OK. Problem in left cochlea or neural pathway - but I knew that!

Now the easy way to audio-borg must be a vibrator implanted behind each ear - but it wouldn't help me. I would need direct brain injection.

More difficult! Especially if you can't locate the brain.

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More down to earth question:

What does -65dB at 4kHz in one ear mean for enjoyment of (recorded) music; and for the choice of loudspeakers?

I don't need a super-tweeter!

 

I would imagine that since the loss is gradual there is a degree of adjustment and compensation at play.

Then again -65db means inaudible, therefore there will still be substantial loss at lower frequencies. It would be interesting to learn how the hearing test is done and against what scale the measurements are referenced.

 

-65dB is massive, I didn't know they could / would measure that much. I've done hearing tests before and I can always hear the noise of the doctors building around me making it hard to detect low level sounds. Rather annoying and certianly no way to measure -65dB like that!

 

What's next is probably just a move further into streaming solutions with better and cheaper mobile interweb. Spotify can run on my iPhone with 3G but it quickly eats up my internet allowance and drops out a fair bit while on the move - especially underground!

 

I have a print out of the graph - but it's the other side of Europe. The axis only runs up to 6kHz - now is that general, or was it not worth going further for even my good ear!

I have had regular hearing tests over the years - part of standard Army medicals. I have watched the technology improve in 40 years. No more hand plotting! Principle always the same though - bleeps at various frequencies and volumes - you push a button when you hear a bleep. I presume there are various strategies used to test and cross check the results. This is the first time I have used ear buds rather than headphones and the first time they repeated the tests with a transducer strapped behind my ear. Without the white noise interference in the good ear the curve for the bad ear was rather better. For may years I have done the test in a sound proof box. This time I noted the box rocked - it was on vibration absorbing feet.

7 years ago I was fitted for a digital hearing aid, which I don't wear because it does not make any improvement. At that test they measured my threshold of pain as well as hearing, so the aid could EQ within comfortable limits.

I have never worked out why I hear the newscaster centred between the speakers with no balance control set. I suppose the brain must be compensating.

What I cannot do is manage multiple conversations - I cannot disentangle them in a noisy room. And I cannot cope with loud (especially percussive) noises. "Don't shout: I'm deaf!" Seems crazy, but it's true.

I was told down to -20dB is considered normal - that is massive margin compared to that applied to loudspeaker design.