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hearing sudden distortion effect



Dear List,

In 2009 I acquired chronic low-level high-frequency tinnitus. 
Tests rhowed that it was at approximately 11 KHz 10 dB above 
threshold. Most of the time I'm not concious of it and it doesn't 
affect my enjoyment of music.

Friday night I attended an orchestra concert where they played 
Beethoven's "Overture to 'Eqmont'", Bruch's "Scottish Fantasy",
and Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 12" in that order. I enjoyed it 
all, but the last piece was especially loud, and near the end of 
the last movement I suddenly experienced a loud distortion effect 
on certain very loud notes. It had two attributes: 1) It was very
sudden, almost like an amplifier clipping; 2) I perceived the 
sounds to be localized very close to my head, rather than coming 
from the stage (I was seated about 20 rows from the stage.). The 
effect was very disconcerting because it ruined the musical 
experience.

This is the first time I've experienced this effect at an orchestra
concert. I remember experiencing something like this in 1978 when a
certain electronic piece by Xennakis was performed at the 
International Computer Music Conference at Northwestern Univ. It was 
played very loud, and I remember sounds were swirling around my head. 
Others had the same experience. This was way before my tinnitus onset, 
and I didn't mind it because it seemed like the strange localization 
effect was just part of the piece.

Has anyone else experienced this effect? What is the effect called? 
Is it related to tinnitus or is it a cause of tinnitus?

Thanks for your help on this question!

Best,
     Jim

James W. Beauchamp                                                
Research Professor
Professor Emeritus of Music and Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
email: jwbeauch@xxxxxxxxxxxx (also: jwbeauch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
WWW:  http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/beaucham
      http://www.ece.illinois.edu/directory/profile/jwbeauch