Subject: Re: 'pressure at the ears' visiting an anechoic chamber From: Jen Tufts <jbt2(at)PSU.EDU> Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 08:27:15 -0500Dear List, If Jont/Cyril's explanation is correct, perhaps that also explains the similar feeling of pressure experienced when one enters a much quieter (but not sound-isolated) environment after having been exposed to loud sound for a long period of time (temporary threshold shift may be greater for high frequencies than lows). A couple of questions related to the 'unlearning' of this sensation: do people with a substantial hearing loss, esp in the higher frequencies, experience the same pressure sensation upon entering a sound-isolated room, and do workers who are routinely exposed to loud sounds experience a pressure sensation when they leave the work environment? Jennifer Tufts At 03:29 AM 10/28/98 +0000, Jont Allen wrote: >Dear List, >I have been doing some "research" about this pressure effect in the ears, >when you enter the anechoic chamber (AC). I called Cyril Harris, and asked >him for his opinion on this effect. He had to think about it, and didn't >have an answer of the top of his head, but he came up with a reasonable >explanation, I think. > >When you have pressure on your ears, there is lots of static (low frequency) >pressure relative to high frequencies. He suggests that when you walk into >the AC, the high frequencies are damped, but not so much for the lows. >Thus the spectral balance is tilted heavily toward the low frequencies. >It is, he argues, the strong low frequency bias towards the low end of >the spectrum that gives the "pressure effect," just as in the case of >normal high frequencies with a static pressure. > >What do you think of this explanation? > >Jont Allen/Cyril Harris Email to AUDITORY should now be sent to AUDITORY(at)lists.mcgill.ca LISTSERV commands should be sent to listserv(at)lists.mcgill.ca Information is available on the WEB at http://www.mcgill.ca/cc/listserv