Re: hearing sudden distortion effect

[Miriam Kolar <kolar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim,


Another anecdote that may be useful . . .

My father, a liturgical organist and music director, describes a similar 
problem in one ear (like a "distorted signal with reverberation") that 
was first triggered in his mid 60's during a loud choir rehearsal and 
persisted over many months . . . he says it correlated with a period of 
regular ibuprofen use, and so he now instead uses naproxen if he needs 
an NSAID, to avoid the aural distortion effect.

Best,
Miriam


*. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. 
*. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *
Miriam A. Kolar, Ph.D.
Five College Associate
Weatherhead Fellow, School for Advanced Research (2016-2017)
Lead Investigator, Chavín de Huántar Archaeological Acoustics Project
mkolar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / kolar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.culturalacoustics.org
*. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. 
*. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *. *


On 2016-10-02 09:17, Tom Brennan wrote:
> Jim, I have this problem fairly frequently.  Have severe tinnitis and 
> also
> bilateral Meniere's.  Actually had to stop tuning pianos due to this 
> dostortion
> problem.  I find that it is far worse if my allergies are acting up at 
> all.
> I've not seen much written on this exact problem but believe it may 
> have to do
> with some endolymphatic hydrops.
>
> Tom
>
>
> Tom Brennan  KD5VIJ, CCC-A/SLP
> web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html
>
> On Sat, 1 Oct 2016, James W. Beauchamp wrote:
>
> > Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2016 17:59:55 -0500
> > From: James W. Beauchamp <jwbeauch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: 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