OT - Strange Hearing Problem...

[mr_hippo]

How many people do you think have said that one dom? You and about 65,000others.

It doesn't bother me, but think about how disabling it would be. Put a sponge ear plug in and leave it in all day. There are some plusses; I only have to use one side of an IPOD speaker set............

Another plus is if you sleep with your good ear on the pillow - silence! One big disadvantage is the 'cocktail party effect' - you hear the person speaking to you but the rest is a babel.
Like ChrisKH, I only have one working ear - completely deaf in my left and it was caused by cabbage! My Mum by her own admission was a bad cook, she used to boil cabbage for hours! As a young kid, my Mum would say "Peter, eat your cabbage." "But Mum, I don't like it!" It was not a wise thing to say as it often resulted in a hard slap around my left ear and that's why I am deaf!

 

[snorri]

I don't think you need to worry about your hearing at this stage.
This new job has just introduced lots of new phraseology and terminology to your work and this will take a bit of getting used to. Your new clients are using microphones with different characteristics from what you are used to as well. Your concern that you may miss something important also raises the stress levels which doesn't help concentration. Give it a couple of weeks and you will be fine.
If you have ever had the opportunity to listen in on helicopter pilots, or seagoing types on marine vhf, it all sounds like double dutch to the uninitiated, but they all manage ok.................................most of the time.

 

[Dr Captain Awesome]

Cocktail party effect (mentioned previously)? Difficulty differentiating speech from background noise - perhaps due to (non-serious) deterioration of inner ear muscles. Would perhaps explain your increased sensitivity to loud noises too.

If it's really bothering you or affecting your job, seek professional help.

 

[punkypossum]

It appears to be improving (touch wood)...have a new headset and I think I'm getting more used to the interference, etc. Apparently we are supposed to be getting a completely new system in a few month (the current one is about 12 years old), which is supposed to cut out a lot of the background noise and improve sound quality...I live in hope!

 

[domtyler]

It appears to be improving (touch wood)...have a new headset and I think I'm getting more used to the interference, etc. Apparently we are supposed to be getting a completely new system in a few month (the current one is about 12 years old), which is supposed to cut out a lot of the background noise and improve sound quality...I live in hope!

Heh heh, all my working life there have been crappy systems that are persistently "going to be replaced in a few months"! Weird how they never seem to budge!

 

[ColinJ]

One big disadvantage is the 'cocktail party effect' - you hear the person speaking to you but the rest is a babel.

One weird variation of the cocktail party effect is where you are talking to someone in a noisy, crowded room and then suddenly a whispered remark cuts through the din and stops every conversation in the room dead in its tracks. Like this:

Mutter,
Mumble,
Waffle,
Moan,
Whinge,
Gibber,
Nag,
Drawl,
Gossip,
Natter,
Chat,
Snigger...



































... but his penis was only two inches long!!

The brain must be subconsciously monitoring every conversation in the background just in case something interesting turns up. It always amazes me every time I experience it.

 

[Speicher]

Heh heh, all my working life there have been crappy systems that are persistently "going to be replaced in a few months"! Weird how they never seem to budge!

Have you considered that you may need your hearing tested?
I am sure if they started shouting at you, you might realise that you need to budge and be replaced.

 

[punkypossum]

Heh heh, all my working life there have been crappy systems that are persistently "going to be replaced in a few months"! Weird how they never seem to budge!

I know, I wouldn't usually believe it either - however, we are moving site at the end of the year, which will be when the new system will be installed and they have actually bought it, so chances are it might happen!!!

 

[02GF74]

Don't think there is anything wrong with my hearing as such, like I said, the volume is fine, it just sounds garbled. Also, I can often still hear those high-pitch supermarket beeps for teenagers which I'm not supposed to hear anymore at my age, so I'm definitely not going deaf.

Hearing loss can be caused in different ways; illness, loutdnoises, physical damage and you may not be aware of it.

Just because you can hear chav alarms does not neceassrily imply you hearing is fine across the whole range. Human voice., when talking anyway, is in quite a narrow band, from memory around 2 KHz and this is why the old telephones worked so well as they operated on that frequency. You may have loss in that region.

In, short, I would see GP first, maybe your lug holes are bunged up with wax or maybe here is something wrong, a hearing test would prove that.

touch wood you're fine but if you think you hearing loss was caused by work, then you can claim compensation. kerching £££££

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

One weird variation of the cocktail party effect is where you are talking to someone in a noisy, crowded room and then suddenly a whispered remark cuts through the din and stops every conversation in the room dead in its tracks. Like this:

Mutter,
Mumble,
Waffle,
Moan,
Whinge,
Gibber,
Nag,
Drawl,
Gossip,
Natter,
Chat,
Snigger...



































... but his penis was only two inches long!!

The brain must be subconsciously monitoring every conversation in the background just in case something interesting turns up. It always amazes me every time I experience it.

Isn't this usually when you hear your own name mentioned that you listen in

Only kidding mate

Tony

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

I know, I wouldn't usually believe it either - however, we are moving site at the end of the year, which will be when the new system will be installed and they have actually bought it, so chances are it might happen!!!

PP, get it checked.
Not to scare you but you could have either Temporary or Permanent Threshold SHift (TS).
This is where the ears ability to priocess sound within a certain frequency range is temp or pemanent damaged.
This usually occurs at the 2khz frequency which is the normal range for human speech. You will often still hear high and low frequency clearly.
It could also be natuaral deterioration due to age (I'm 46 and still young for TS!)

Exhaust other options fist as mentioned by 02GF74 and get your local quack to check for underlying infection or wax problems.

Did you do any previous jobs where you constantly had to work in noisy areas?
Unfortunately, call centres would rarely if ever come across a case of TS caused by headset usage.

Mine was caused by being in and working with bands - noisy practice studios and PA's.

TonyEnjoyD

 

[punkypossum]

It seems to have sorted itself, the new headset and getting used to the background interference noises seem to have done the trick.... And no, haven't worked in any noisy environments and wasn't even much off a clubber when I was younger (only 34 now, so unlikely to be any age related stuff). Anyway, the ears seem much better!!!