What people don’t realize about hearing loss
The common misconception about hearing loss is that it affects both ears equally, but there is more to that.
First, we have to consider the side. The left and right ear hear and process different type of sounds. The left tends to capture music and emotions better, and the right captures more of speech and logic. The allocation is related to how the left and right hemispheres of the brain are responsible for processing different type of information and sensory stimulations. Due to the division and specialization of sound processing roles, damage to each ear results in different outcome and level of hearing loss.
In a study conducted at the University of California in Los Angeles, scientists placed probes in the left and right ears of 3000 babies. They realized that the probes emitted different sounds from the left and right ears. While the left ears were more sensitive to music, the right ears better picked up sounds from speech.
The combination of hearing within both ears allows us to interpret sounds easier, but this interpretation is made harder when someone loses more hearing in one of the ears. If someone has more severe hearing loss in one ear than the other, this can affect how sound is heard, including in songs. If sound is heard less in the left ear than the right ear, this means that it is harder to hear the chords and instruments in songs. If sound is heard less in the right ear than the left ear, it is harder to hear and interpret the lyrics and singing within a song.
Now luckily, there is a solution: Hearing Aids. Hearing Aids are customized to adjust to one’s specific need, creating a seemingly normal sound when worn. For example, if one’s left ear was lacking volume to a specific frequency or overall frequency, one would simply wear a hearing aid on the left ear — that hearing aid would adjust the frequencies of sound coming into the left ear to sound to similar as a left ear without hearing loss.
The Remix
In this post, I created a remix which caters to those who hear less in the left ear and right ear. For the left ear, I took a previous remix I made and panned certain sounds within the left and right directions. For the right ear, I took the remix and panned certain sounds in opposite directions within the right and left directions. In addition, I added additional eq to the vocals in order to make the voice more clear.
Your ears differ — find out more about hearing better in one ear. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2021, from https://www.hear-it.org/Your-ears-differ-
Victory, J. (2019, December 16). Reverse-slope hearing loss. Retrieved May 16, 2021, from https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/53038-What-is-low-frequency-reverse-slope-hearing-loss
