Re: hearing sudden distortion effect

[Leon van Noorden <leonvannoorden@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim, 

This reminds me of a demonstration of the combination tones by prof. Plomp at the famous conferences at the shore of the Ossiacher See in Austria organised by prof. Roederer. 

I was seated quite far from the front where the loud speakers where. I felt the combination tones coming from very near to my left ear. I think it gave me goose pimples.

Best,
Leon

Sent from my iPad

> On 2 Oct 2016, at 00:59, James W. Beauchamp <jwbeauch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> 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