[HN Gopher] An Interview with Lola De La Mata about tinnitus
___________________________________________________________________
An Interview with Lola De La Mata about tinnitus
Author : Afforess
Score : 92 points
Date : 2024-06-06 18:28 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (thequietus.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (thequietus.com)
| nerdponx wrote:
| The article is long (but interesting!) and a lot of it isn't
| about the particular scientific discovery in the headline.
|
| Here's the part that describes the discovery:
|
| > The most mind-blowing moment, not only for De La Mata but the
| scientists too, came when they managed to actually record the
| sounds that she heard in her ears - which now appear as 'Left
| Ear' and 'Right Ear' which begin sides A and B on the album - and
| in doing so opened up questions about the nature of tinnitus
| itself. "The NHS definition is that it's a phantom sound that
| your brain is creating, that it isn't something 'real', so you
| should try to ignore it." By having De La Mata place her ear into
| an anechoic chamber, with an ultra-sensitive microphone perched
| in her ear canal, they were able to provide significant evidence
| to the contrary. "After the first recording of it, it was
| 'There's no way, this isn't possible.'" They tried again with her
| breath held, and again with her tensing her ears, and again with
| other members of staff, but each time it became apparent that
| yes, the noises De La Mata hears are seemingly something
| physical. More intriguingly still, the two women whose ears were
| recorded, De La Mata and Lana Norris - the musicologist whose
| voice appears on the album's 'PINK Noise', and who is also a
| choral director - were the only two people whose ears were found
| to produce spontaneous otoacoustic emissions. "It's something to
| do with hormone difference, but they don't really know why," De
| La Mata says. Present in most children but believed to fade over
| time, they're also found far more in musicians than in other
| adults, for reasons yet unknown. It all raises a lot of
| questions. "What I have is tinnitus by the definition we have
| now, but maybe that's not correct. Maybe it's something else," De
| La Mata wonders aloud.
|
| Is there an academic followup to this? I would imagine that this
| is a pretty major anatomical/medical discovery and that the
| discoverers would want to write a paper about it.
| geuis wrote:
| Thanks for summarizing that. I have mild tinnitus that comes
| and goes so I wanted to get the important info. Instead the
| article goes on and on like a lifestyle article.
| tempestn wrote:
| That's fascinating. So I guess the sound must be produced by
| something in the body; blood flow would be my guess. And then
| the structure of the ear is maybe amplifying it?
| LiquidHelium wrote:
| From some quick reading I don't think this is a new discovery,
| there is even a name for it "objective tinnitus". Here's a case
| study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4922963/
| wrs wrote:
| What I would like to understand is the logic that says in
| some cases we see a physical noise being created by the ear,
| yet we conclude this is a tiny minority of cases, with all
| the rest being some issue with neural processing. As opposed
| to thinking we just don't have a sensitive enough measurement
| in those other cases. I can't find this logic in a casual
| search. References anyone?
| rufus_foreman wrote:
| I've had tinnitus for many decades, when I first went to a
| doctor for it around 30 years ago he told me that in some
| cases it was an actual sound that other people could hear. He
| checked and he couldn't hear mine. Although I did consider
| the possibility that he was just putting me on.
| amluto wrote:
| And more generally:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otoacoustic_emission
| dang wrote:
| The submitted title was "First recording of tinnitus raises new
| questions". We've changed it to what the article says now.
| (edit: well, I added the bit about tinnitus, in a concession to
| the already existing thread. If someone has a better title
| suggestion, preferably using representative language from the
| article, we can change it again.)
|
| " _Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or
| linkbait; don 't editorialize._" -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
| wyager wrote:
| I thought this sounded like BS, so I looked a bit more closely
| into ear physiology.
|
| You obviously need some kind of energy source (either an active
| amplifier or a noisy pump source) to have resonances that can be
| recorded. What would that be for tinnitus? Blood flow noise?
|
| Well it turns out that there _is_ thought to be active
| amplification in mammalian ears, via the outer hair cells. They
| have some sort of active motor protein setup that is thought to
| physically amplify incoming sounds. So you can get a self-
| sustaining resonance that way. A healthy ear will emit sounds
| from spurious or resonant activation of these motor proteins.
|
| Apparently this is thought to cause a minority of cases of
| tinnitus.
|
| I looked into if I could buy probe microphones to test my own
| ears. Looks like Etymotic sells a couple in the $1500 range (as
| of the mid-90s), presumably more expensive now. Couldn't find any
| good deals on used lab-grade probe microphones online.
| blueridge wrote:
| I have severe hyperacusis and have had tinnitus for decades. My
| entire life is a quest for quiet and silence. If we're going out
| with friends, the first thing I want to know is how loud the
| environment is, and if it's going to be a noisy outing, I
| decline. I often dream of buying a place in the backcountry
| because the noise and electronic resonance humming through the
| suburbs is terribly distracting and physically painful. I am
| still in the process of buying and returning kitchen appliances,
| trying to find a refrigerator that doesn't whine all day long.
| wyager wrote:
| That sounds terrible. I'm very sensitive to inductor whine -
| I'm sure there are a few hotels who thought they had a
| schizophrenic guest based on the lengths I sometimes go through
| to unplug whiny power supplies in hotels - but not to the point
| of routinely hearing it under normal daytime conditions.
|
| Have you considered moving to one of those places near a radio
| observatory where people aren't allowed to use electronics?
| ykonstant wrote:
| I had tremendous problem with my landlord in Urbana about
| that; outside my apartment there was some electrical
| apparatus and the whine resonated throughout, but neither he
| nor his wife could hear it. I had to bring a couple of young
| neighbors to confirm that there was a noise and until this
| was done he really thought I had gone insane; the good thing
| was that after some adjustments by the electrician the noise
| stopped.
| tommiegannert wrote:
| Sonic pest repellants? Supposed to be ultrasonic, but some
| work around 13 kHz, I've heard... (Oh, and I have a roll of
| black PVC tape in my travel bag for taping over hotel air
| condition LEDs. I don't understand why they have to make them
| light up the entire room.)
| downrightmike wrote:
| 24/7 I've been putting cotton balls in my ears for a while now,
| takes a little to get used to the lower volume of everything
| else, but it really helps. I'm surprised at how loud things are
| at this point when I don't have them.
| vlovich123 wrote:
| Is your tinnitus worse when you take the cotton balls out?
| downrightmike wrote:
| Its always there, just the other noise is overwhelming.
| With them in, tinnitus feels much less noticeable. Plus the
| upside is if I really need to hear something, like a phone
| call, I just take them out.
| freedomben wrote:
| I use earplugs made for sleeping (so have an emphasis on
| comfort over noise blockage) and that definitely helps.
| ulnarkressty wrote:
| Did you get custom molded ones or are there more
| comfortable generic earplugs?
| mauvehaus wrote:
| I wear hearing protection pretty regularly for work. It's
| astonishing how loud riding the subway was after becoming
| more attuned to loud noise and doing what I could to mitigate
| it. Ditto concerts. The level they turn the music up to is
| nuts.
| ninininino wrote:
| Have you considered an icebox?
| ccppurcell wrote:
| Here's something I did to slightly improve things. Buy one of
| those timed switches that are usually for outdoor lighting and
| things like that, and use it to switch the fridge off
| automatically during periods you need quiet the most. Obviously
| not too much of the day, use good judgement. Fridges are only
| working (and whining) when the temperature inside rises above a
| certain amount. With the timer you can have a little influence
| over when that happens.
|
| Pray for me as I am stuck in an apartment building with a
| regular 50hz hum for the foreseeable.
| Spivak wrote:
| High fidelity ear plugs? That's been my go-to for years to deal
| with loud environments because of this. Bonus being you can
| actually hear people talking better. I don't think I'm as
| severe as you are tho.
| coldtea wrote:
| Like? Those passive ones made by Loop? Or some active?
| Spivak wrote:
| Okay so one's I've tried:
|
| * Eargasm -- Do not recommend, they're really hard to get a
| seal, the noise protection seems worse than advertised, and
| if it's hot and you sweat they fall out and getting a seal
| again is a huge PITA.
|
| * Etymotic ER20 -- Highly recommend, super easy to get a
| seal, good sound quality, good nose reduction. The only
| negative is they're a little hard to get used to since they
| go really deep in your ears and they're hard plastic. Some
| people it really bothers when they borrow them.
|
| * Loop -- Also highly recommend, I would spend the extra
| for the thing you put in the middle that gives you the
| extra dB reduction. These plugs are weird AF but they sit
| on the outside of your ear, are very comfortable, stay
| sealed, and don't fall out because they use your own ear to
| hold it in.
|
| * Vibes -- They had the same problems as the Eargasms for
| me but also reduced noise less. Might be worth for "above
| average loudness social event" but for actually loud events
| I couldn't use them.
|
| * Any Noise Cancelling -- Hate these fuckers. I've tried so
| many of them but they all make me feel like I'm in an
| airplane and they make me hear my tinnitus worse. It's not
| like it's louder but something about the noise cancelling
| makes me focus on it more. I'm sure they're great for
| regular ears but they can't cancel the noise coming from
| inside the house.
|
| * Dark horse pick that aren't actually high-fidelity are 3M
| E-A-R UltraFit Corded Ear Plugs those bright neon yellow
| things with the blue cord. Ugly as sin but really
| effective. Super cheap too. In slightly noisy environments
| I keep them a little bit unsealed. They're my backup for
| when I need more dB reduction than high-fidelity filters
| can provide.
|
| I'm scheduled for an appointment with an audiologist to get
| the custom molded -25 dB plugs. I think the woman said
| they'd be like $200 but I wanted something I could take to
| like concert concerts.
| blueridge wrote:
| Amazing, thank you for this!
| zimpenfish wrote:
| +1 for the ER20s. I've got some of the early Loops (no
| inserts or anything fancy) which are decent enough (and
| can be used for sleeping in an emergency.) Also got some
| of the early Flare Audio titaniums which do a decent job.
|
| (For sleeping I buy the Leight Laser Lite in bulk because
| anything with a stiff/solid stem tends to be
| uncomfortable. They also work reasonably well in gig
| scenarios.)
| Traubenfuchs wrote:
| Are any of those more effective than very deeply inserted
|
| https://www.moldex.com/product/sparkplugs/
|
| ?
|
| I feel like I am at the ansolute maximum with them, but I
| would always like more silence.
| jslabovitz wrote:
| I don't have hyperacusis or tinnitus, but I am extremely
| sensitive to noise, especially fans, engines, pumps, and
| anything else that makes percussive or resonant noise. I am
| fortunate to live quite remotely in the countryside, with no
| human sounds nearby. I have a personal policy that nothing that
| makes continuous noise is allowed in my house. I installed all
| my appliances in another structure (a root cellar) a short walk
| from my house. It's made all the difference!
|
| If you live in the typical American configuration of a house
| with a garage that is near the kitchen, consider putting your
| fridge/freezer out there. Sure, it's a few steps of
| inconvenience, but you'll find the lack of noisy appliances a
| true consolation. If you really need quick access to something
| refrigerated, put a cooler in a corner of the kitchen, and make
| ice with the freezer that's in the garage.
|
| Truly silent refrigerators exist, but you won't find them at
| your typical home improvement box store. (Ask me why I know
| this!) Look into Amish appliance suppliers. Or the tiny-house
| folks who've found quiet, compact absorption-based fridges.
| blueridge wrote:
| Love this! Got any brand/model recommendations for quiet
| appliances?
| jslabovitz wrote:
| Dometic used to have small absorption fridges. (I had one
| in a tiny house, and it was totally silent.) Not sure if
| they do nowadays. (Peltier effect fridges have taken up
| some of the steam these days, but I'm pretty sure those
| have constant-running fans.) I think Dometic is still big
| in the sailboat community, which is another good place to
| investigate.
|
| Most propane fridges are absorption style. I don't know if
| they're up to code for running inside a house, but they'd
| probably be fine on a porch or in a garage.
|
| Check out Lehman's (https://www.lehmans.com/category/gas-
| refrigerators-freezers) for a lot of alternative
| technology.
|
| Otherwise, google for 'propane refrigerator' or 'gas
| refrigerator or 'absorption refrigerator.'
|
| If you really want to get creative, and enjoy processing
| food, there's lots of fridge-free ways to preserve food,
| depending on the climate you live in. It's also a fun area
| to research and experiment with.
|
| Oh, one more thing -- chest freezers can be converted to
| chest fridges with a simple thermostat-switch. As most
| cheap chest freezers are manual-defrost style, they tend to
| run their compressor less, and for whatever reason, aren't
| as noisy as standing fridges. I personally still wouldn't
| want one in my main living quarters, but as they tend to be
| pretty cheap to buy, it might be something to try.
| treprinum wrote:
| Did you try to listen to MIT's 40Hz waves on headphones for
| 15-30 minutes?
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVne_84qZkA
| will5421 wrote:
| What's the electronic resonance from? Streetlights?
| blueridge wrote:
| Yard tools running all day, commercial pumps and carpet
| cleaning vacuums in the distance (can hear them from miles
| away), the whine from AC compressors around the neighborhood,
| the resonance from the air moving through the radon piping on
| sides of our neighbor's houses, the CONSTANT and increasing
| noise from small planes, the neighbors who seem to vacuum
| their cars almost every other day for half the day. If my
| other half accidentally drops a ceramic dish on another
| ceramic dish my ears are ringing and painful for days.
|
| I read this and I think that others must think that I am
| difficult to live with. It's not like I'm wincing all day or
| bitching at others to keep it down. The inside of our house
| is a sanctuary of silence, for the most part, after lots of
| trial and error with AC ducting, appliances, insulation. It's
| all of the other sounds that seem to sneak in through our old
| walls that are maddening.
| thereisnospork wrote:
| If there's a literal sound, then with sufficiently sensitive
| microphones it should be possible to triangulate the sound and
| cauterize the source? Or maybe just glue it so it can't vibrate?
| vlovich123 wrote:
| As someone else on the thread hypothesized what seems like the
| likely explanation to me, is that the tinnitus is always there,
| but as your hearing degrades your brain adjusts the gain up to
| maintain equilibrium in a noisy environment but this amplifies
| the otherwise ambient noise of how your ear works into a
| noticeable signal.
|
| I don't think cauterization is the answer.
| thereisnospork wrote:
| Certainly plausible, but considering both the apparent low
| volume and high frequency of tinnitus it should be possible
| to mechanically damp the tinnitus sound below threshold w/o
| grossly affecting hearing. In any case it's a straightforward
| hypothesis to test and I can't imagine there'd be a lack of
| volunteers.
| JPLeRouzic wrote:
| I have a strong tinnitus, 20 years ago I asked a doctor if he
| could do something about it. He put his stethoscope on my skull
| and told me "It's weird I can hear something". Alas, he was
| unable to help me. Since today I haven't thought about the
| contradiction between a physical and the omnipresent mantra that
| "Tinnitus is not something physical, it is just a noise that the
| brain made up".
| ralphist wrote:
| Didn't you see someone else? If it's physical, it should be way
| easier to diagnose than most.
|
| Edit: I mean someone who specializes in hearing.
| JPLeRouzic wrote:
| No, I didn't.
|
| It may be dumb but I had things to manage like work and
| children in their teens, so tinnitus management had a low
| priority. Still, I look avidly at discussions about tinnitus.
| I tried the method of tapping on the neck, but it did not
| work for me. I tried hearing aids, but it didn't help either.
| ed312 wrote:
| I'm not a doctor, and I couldn't give you medical advice if
| I was, but tinnitus can be caused by health conditions you
| really should get checked out. High blood pressure etc.
| calf wrote:
| How loud was your tinnitus compared to everyday noises? Mine
| can be masked by urban environment during the day, and my
| doctor never used a stethoscope on me yet.
| JPLeRouzic wrote:
| It's very loud, at least it's my impression. It's louder when
| I am tired, or after listening to some music.
| eps wrote:
| > It's louder when I am tired
|
| I have the same. So much so that I now rely on its
| intensity when I wake up to gauge how well I slept at
| night.
| HankB99 wrote:
| At times I'm wondering if the Cicada emergence (17 year brood
| here) is masking tinnitus or if tinnitus will mask the
| cicadas.
|
| As they get louder, I can easily hear them over tinnitus. The
| cicada sound itself is interesting. Distant ones combine to
| make a sort of steady hum, almost a whistling noise. Ones
| that are close by make a distinctive sharp wavering buzzing
| noise. The sounds are distinctive and there doesn't seem to
| be any in between.
| adamgordonbell wrote:
| I get tinnitus when it's really quiet and it feels a lot like my
| brain is just turning up the gain so much it picks up the noise
| floor.
|
| Some audio cleaning tools can do the same if applied incorrectly.
|
| It makes sense hearing loss would make this worse. Less signal
| more gain needs to be applied.
| zzzeek wrote:
| I modded this up because of the discussion regarding that
| tinnitus in at least some form might be an actual physically
| observable phenomenon. As for the article itself I saw a wall of
| foofy "longread for elite intellectuals" style text and skipped
| it entirely. Looking forward to some more meat and potatoes
| stories on this possible phenomenon.
| bowsamic wrote:
| This has been known for a long time, I'm not sure why it's being
| reported on as if it's a new discovery
|
| EDIT why the downvotes? I'm honestly on the edge of deleting my
| account here at this point
| joshuaheard wrote:
| I find I get downvoted for being negative/critical and upvoted
| when I add something to the conversation.
| bowsamic wrote:
| I added something to the conversation by critique, and also
| bringing to the knowledge of others that objective tinnitus
| is not a novel discovery
| IvyMike wrote:
| It's easy to say "this is old news" but as a non-expert, I have
| no idea if you _are_ an expert, or just some random blowhard.
|
| I did a quick search but, once again, as a non-expert, I have
| no idea what to search for and don't see any solid results
| showing one way or another. I didn't downvote you, but if you
| make a claim and _back it up with an interesting link_ , that
| tends to do a lot better.
| arnonejoe wrote:
| The mere mention of tinnitus and suddenly I hear the high pitched
| sound in my head. I wonder if it's this way for others?
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| Yeah and it gets stronger as you read more about it
| swifthesitation wrote:
| Yeah, same. I think for me, this is due to focus. Similarly,
| when someone says, "Don't think of a beach ball." What do you
| do?
| proee wrote:
| Yes, I didn't hear anything until I read this post, and now it
| won't go away!
| fatnoah wrote:
| Yes, same here. I don't notice it until I do.
| baxtr wrote:
| When it's super quiet I hear a constant high pitch sound and
| there is nothing I can do get rid of it.
|
| But I don't care about it. I wonder if I have a tinnitus or not.
| Fauntleroy wrote:
| This is a form of tinnitus
| mathsmath wrote:
| Yeah! I have had this as far back as I can remember, and
| recently found out that (I think) it's tinnitus.
|
| Interestingly enough, it doesn't really bother me unless I'm
| seeking it out, so I wonder if my young brain just adapted to
| it.
|
| Another weird fact about me is that I can hear things (I'm 35)
| that lots of people can't. I can definitely hear switching
| power supplies in _everything_ (well, almost everything -
| really high quality electronics mostly seem to be exempt). I
| also know when bats are around, because I can hear a
| "clicking" noise from whatever their echolocation-producing
| organ is. I don't think I can hear the echolocation itself, but
| there is a very distinctive clicking that they make in the
| process.
| ffhhj wrote:
| Cool. Maybe resonance with their echolocation waves.
| neonate wrote:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20240606093250/https://thequietu...
|
| https://archive.ph/uuRuX
| subroutine wrote:
| > low floating tones would cover [other people's] speech
|
| This is not my experience. I've had tinnitus my entire life, and
| it's more of a phantom sound (cf. phantom limb) than a something
| that competes with sounds in the real world. That is, if there is
| any real noise like speech it basically gets muted. In a
| completely quiet environment however the ringing sensation can be
| comparable to high pitch TV static. The quieter the environment,
| the louder it gets.
| koreth1 wrote:
| Same experience. When I was a little kid, I thought the high-
| pitched whine was just what "silence" sounded like.
| subroutine wrote:
| My wild hair theory is that it could be due to sleeping with
| a fan on every night. Looking back, it seems like I always
| had a box fan, oscillating fan, or ceiling fan running at
| night. So that's 8 hours of auditory exposure to the same
| constant frequencies, every night for many years.
| plasma_beam wrote:
| 22 years ago I permanently damaged my left ear at a beach concert
| on Tortola, British Virgin Islands. I was young, drinking in the
| sun, and standing far too close to a concert speaker stack that
| was turned up way too loud. The damage started off as pain - felt
| like water was stuck in my ear for weeks. It's still noticeable
| 22 years later. I'll always regret that moment, but have come to
| accept it. Your ears are so fragile.
| Traubenfuchs wrote:
| How did you even manage standing there? Disco music causes me
| SEVERE 11/10 shaking-twitching-must-run-away pain and anguish.
| With ear plugs it's totally fine and I enjoy the vibrations
| from big speakers up close.
|
| What's different from me (neurodivergent?) feeling pain from
| loud noise and others (neurotypicals?) not?
| icepat wrote:
| Same story for me. Water in the ear feeling for several days,
| except it was a punk concert and I was just young and didn't
| realize. Persistent low ringing in my ears ever since. Now I
| wear earplugs any time I'm at a concert.
|
| I do, to an extent, blame the venues for concerts for not
| indicating that hearing damage is possible. At 16, it's not
| something you would even consider. At the bare minimum, offer
| earplugs when you're checking tickets. A lot of smaller,
| grassroots festivals do.
| echelon wrote:
| I hate this article, yet there might be something real here.
|
| On the cover, this article looks like pesudo-scientific hogwash
| and a marketing puff piece for some artist's album. It drones on
| and on.
|
| But this morsel could be absolutely groundbreaking if true:
|
| > The most mind-blowing moment, not only for De La Mata but the
| scientists too, came when they managed to actually record the
| sounds that she heard in her ears - which now appear as 'Left
| Ear' and 'Right Ear' which begin sides A and B on the album - and
| in doing so opened up questions about the nature of tinnitus
| itself. "The NHS definition is that it's a phantom sound that
| your brain is creating, that it isn't something 'real', so you
| should try to ignore it." By having De La Mata place her ear into
| an anechoic chamber, with an ultra-sensitive microphone perched
| in her ear canal, they were able to provide significant evidence
| to the contrary. "After the first recording of it, it was
| 'There's no way, this isn't possible.'" They tried again with her
| breath held, and again with her tensing her ears, and again with
| other members of staff, but each time it became apparent that
| yes, the noises De La Mata hears are seemingly something
| physical.
|
| Is this actually real, or was this made up? Was it simply
| amplified blood flow, CSF, or some other biological and unrelated
| phenomena? Is anyone looking into this?
|
| This is the absolutely wrong window dressing and treatment for
| this kind of news and investigation. This shouldn't be puffed up
| marketing, but should instead be in scientific news circles and
| in the hands of principal investigators.
|
| I'm skeptical, but maybe there's a valid line of research here
| that could result in a treatment for lots of impacted people.
| tomcam wrote:
| If you're young and are lucky enough to not have tinnitus, here
| are the pros and cons of a lifetime of good audio hygiene. I'm
| old and retired and don't have it. My ears are incredibly
| important: would much rather be deaf than blind.
|
| I love loud music right down to my core, but when I was in my
| early 20s it was already clear that many of my musical heroes
| were going deaf. The general rule is not to listen to anything in
| your headphones so loud that you can't detect conversation
| nearby. Another principle is if people can your music on
| headphones from more than a yard or two away, it's too loud.
|
| So what it cost me was not cranking up my favorite music when
| listening. I grew accustomed a much lower volume than I enjoy. It
| wasn't hard, like getting used to decaf coffee or Diet Coke over
| sugary Coke. I go to a few concerts a year and don't ear
| earplugs.
|
| Overall it's been very worth it and the cost has been minimal.
| drones wrote:
| The most mind-blowing moment, not only for De La Mata but the
| scientists too, came when they managed to actually record the
| sounds that she heard in her ears - which now appear as 'Left
| Ear' and 'Right Ear' which begin sides A and B on the album - and
| in doing so opened up questions about the nature of tinnitus
| itself. "The NHS definition is that it's a phantom sound that
| your brain is creating, that it isn't something 'real', so you
| should try to ignore it." By having De La Mata place her ear into
| an anechoic chamber, with an ultra-sensitive microphone perched
| in her ear canal, they were able to provide significant evidence
| to the contrary. "After the first recording of it, it was
| 'There's no way, this isn't possible.'" They tried again with her
| breath held, and again with her tensing her ears, and again with
| other members of staff, but each time it became apparent that
| yes, the noises De La Mata hears are seemingly something
| physical.
|
| Utterly fascinating. I hope more research comes of this.
| amelius wrote:
| I wouldn't be surprised if they picked up the electrical
| signals from the auditory part of the brain.
| mulle_nat wrote:
| I would assume this is completely standard. The ear doctor I
| went to, and that guy was noone "fancy", did this and that must
| have been more then 10 years ago.
| zackmorris wrote:
| I had tinnitus? for several years, which might have been some
| kind of TMJ thing or pinched nerve. I recently wore an ALF
| appliance to fix sleep apnea and to correct a twisted bite from
| maybe sleeping on headgear on one side as a child, and thankfully
| the ringing went away. It sounded like the whine after an
| explosion in movies:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VePV-gsNBNc
|
| I feel like maybe the brain fills in the missing frequencies from
| damaged hair cells or pinched nerves and hallucinates the sound.
| Like in this Coke can red-cyan color illusion:
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/opticalillusions/comments/1cc8cwp/c...
|
| Reddit regrettably makes it hard to link directly to images, so
| here's one you can zoom yourself with command/control +/- for
| proof:
|
| https://gagadget.com/en/446542-a-photo-of-a-coca-cola-can-th...
|
| Maybe a hearing aid could be set up to amplify the frequencies
| near the whine and dampen the rest. Kind of like adding cyan to
| the can so that it no longer appears red. Or removing cyan from
| the surrounding image.
|
| I just tried doing a deep dive on how hair cells work, but I'm
| just seeing a bunch of research papers. It mainly says that they
| don't grow back after dying. I thought that the frequency they
| detected was based on their location in the cochlea, but it
| sounds like they have a random distribution of resonant
| frequencies instead.
|
| Maybe gene therapy could be used to increase or re-roll the hair
| cell randomness so that other cells could take over for the
| missing ones. Or maybe a drug could make them grow or shrink
| slightly at random to change their resonant frequencies, like how
| eating biotin makes your hair grow.
|
| Knowing nothing about this, I wish there was a way for people who
| geek out on stuff to be able to solve a bunch of random problems
| and make rent, like in a think tank. I get so bored and tired of
| working on the same old CRUD apps day after day as tech gets more
| marginalized with ever-increasing workload for the same pay.
| alexpc201 wrote:
| I think it was Hugo Zucarelli, the inventor of Holophonics, the
| recording system used for albums by Roger Waters and Pink Floyd,
| who discovered that the human ear generates a sound of a specific
| frequency which it uses through interference to discern the
| spatial location of a sound source. This has always been a
| mystery as to how, besides knowing if a sound is to our left or
| right, we can also tell if it comes from behind or in front of
| us, above or below us, which should be impossible with just two
| ears on the sides of our head.
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