I know a lot is talked about loss of HF perception as we age but personally I haven't noted this being detrimental to my enjoyment of music. I note the same in others so I take this drop off in HF perception as not of much real importance overall.
What I have noticed however is another age-related auditory issue - a greater difficulty in following conversations in noisy environments (pubs, crowded rooms, etc). This is a known phenomena often attributed to hearing loss but I believe that there is also an underlying mechanism at play - ASA - yes, auditory scene analysis again ASA is the brain's facility to analyse the mix of vibrations that impinge on our eardrums into an auditory scene full of vibration emitting objects which we can follow through time.
Now how this relates to this hobby? I have noticed over recent years that playback soundstage has become more prominent in my listening requirements. I believe this is related to the above issue of a greater difficulty in separating out individual streams (conversations) in the soundscape. So I have less strain listening to playback that has a lower sound floor - it differentiates into sound streams & layers & as a result makes much more sense.
What is at play here, I believe is the ability to perceive low level detail. I believe that the cues which are important to ASA in forming a realistic auditory scene reside in this low level detail or said another way - we are more convinced of the solidity the scene when these low level details are perceived & are correct. in the same way, I don't believe this is just an age related issue - ASA is of importance at all ages but it just happens that it's only in the last 10 years or so that my systems have begun to reach this level of replay which also maybe coincides with the above understandings & observations.
Anybody else resonate with this?
What I have noticed however is another age-related auditory issue - a greater difficulty in following conversations in noisy environments (pubs, crowded rooms, etc). This is a known phenomena often attributed to hearing loss but I believe that there is also an underlying mechanism at play - ASA - yes, auditory scene analysis again ASA is the brain's facility to analyse the mix of vibrations that impinge on our eardrums into an auditory scene full of vibration emitting objects which we can follow through time.
Now how this relates to this hobby? I have noticed over recent years that playback soundstage has become more prominent in my listening requirements. I believe this is related to the above issue of a greater difficulty in separating out individual streams (conversations) in the soundscape. So I have less strain listening to playback that has a lower sound floor - it differentiates into sound streams & layers & as a result makes much more sense.
What is at play here, I believe is the ability to perceive low level detail. I believe that the cues which are important to ASA in forming a realistic auditory scene reside in this low level detail or said another way - we are more convinced of the solidity the scene when these low level details are perceived & are correct. in the same way, I don't believe this is just an age related issue - ASA is of importance at all ages but it just happens that it's only in the last 10 years or so that my systems have begun to reach this level of replay which also maybe coincides with the above understandings & observations.
Anybody else resonate with this?
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