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Re: [Phys-l] Harmonics vs Overtones



curtis osterhoudt wrote:
Speaking of that ...
I had a friend in college who did hearing tests as part of her speech-and-hearing pathology work. I went in one day to get my hearing tested, and while waiting for someone else to finish, started playing with one of the tone-generating machines. I convinced myself that the 3000 Hz setting was broken -- I heard nothing at all, and told her.
She tested me later, and said that I have a very narrow bandwidth in which my hearing is ridiculously bad, and it's right at 3 kHz. She found this amusing, since according to her, that's where a lot of the information is encoded in a typical female voice. I have a marvelous excuse! My hearing is a little better than male average for my age at low frequencies, and a little worse than male average at very high frequencies.

I haven't figured out yet which are the main factors in my being deaf in that small range. I'll probably wire up a tiny pinducer one of these days and see if the sound is even getting to my eardrum; it could be a strange auditory meatus arrangement that's acting as the main filter (that's my best hope).

I just got back from the dentist's where Bonnie the dentist was happy to pick up a conversation. She showed me her earpieces, and the electrode pad behind the ears in connection with nerve implants she recently received, to counter the illness induced deafness from which she suffered for the preceding year or two.
The difference in acuity was astounding. She mentioned that her auditory nerves were completely severed in this implant process.

At any rate, I hear that notch deafness effects can be associated with exposure to loud sounds: if not a pop group, then possibly shotgun or rifle shooting?

Brian W