Peter Harzem wrote:

>I apologize for this longish explanation, but it may be helpful since
>it is hard to think of anything more important for a musician than
>hearing.

of course, all with you here..

however, as you have noted, nobody really spends his life wearing
headphones and those who do it on a professional basis for hours every
day are not likely to use sound sources where (possibly) problematic
ranges of frequencies are actually cut off.  if you supply your ears
with even the standard 20-20kHz you give it more than the avarage +30
old person can still hear.

also: the example of calusses is quite misleading: this is not atrophy
due to not using but growth due to overusing your hands.  the nerve ends
below are not dead, just somewhat shielded of.  when I stop playing
guitar all the feeling comes back to my finger tips after a week.

>Use of earphones for listening to music for long periods ..
>will over longish periods result in general decline of hearing

well, that's not an explanation but a claim, without any proof or, imo
credibilty.  assuming, of course, that moderate volumes are used!!!  and
disregarding the biological fact that living over longish periods will
result in a general decline of hearing.

btw, the original qusetion was about possibly losing the ability of 3-D
ie spatial hearing.  maybe it gets 'switched of' when hearing normal (ie
non 'kunstkopf'-recodings) over headphones for some time; but this is a
basic function that I trust will snap back like color vision in the
morning

So: I do think that both dangers, loss of 3d-hearing due to headphones
and of high- and low-end frequencies due to compressed formats are indeed
ridiculous.  BUT: headphones have a strong tendency to make one 'pump
up' the volume and there is indeed a very real danger.

an average 60 year old person is likely to have better hearing today
than disco-going youngsters or kids who (ab)use their headphones..

oh, and the three smilies are my signature, not a comment

(from a verse by R.  Hunter: Cats on the rooftop, dogs in a pile, nothing
left to do but..)

ps: I use AKG K400 for comfort and total 'dryness'/neutrality of
sound. the sound of my sennheiser hd580 is also very nice,
but my ears are too big after 1/2 hour or so..

:):):)  peace, Thomas    mailto:[log in to unmask]