sher@rochester.UUCP (10/24/85)
From: David Sher <sher> Since I've bought a walkman I've noticed that there is a major difference in the hearing of my two ears. (Actually I've considered that for a long time its just that the walkman made it obvious). My left ear is much more sensitive than my right ear. I seem to have suficient hearing in both ears because I've had my hearing checked a few times and no one mentioned any problem. My ability to figure out the direction a sound is coming from is not good but not terrible either. Oh yes, I think I've had this condition since childhood but am not positive. I ask the combined expertise of net.med . Should I do something about this? If so what? Right now I am doing nothing. Generally this is the right choice in my experience but on the other hand I am a great believer in preventative medicine. -- -David Sher sher@rochester seismo!rochester!sher
ksbszabo@watvlsi.UUCP (Kevin Szabo) (10/26/85)
>From: David Sher <sher> >Since I've bought a walkman I've noticed that there is a major >difference in the hearing of my two ears. I noticed the same thing with my hearing. It was most prominent when I switched the telephone receiver from the left to the right ear; it surprised me how much more I had to strain to hear the other person. The problem turned out to be the result of a childhood ear infection. Due to the pressure my eardrum ruptured (I can still remember the relief, the pain from the pressure was awful) and scar tissue formed. The small amount of scarring was enough to reduce the sensitivity by a couple of db's. Kevin -- Kevin Szabo' watmath!watvlsi!ksbszabo (U of W VLSI Group, Waterloo, Ont, Canada)
mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) (10/27/85)
The posting about uneven hearing brought to mind an observation I had. I was watching a PBS television pledge drive where they had many people talking on phones. As I am left-handed, I decided to count the lefties. At first, it appeared they were all lefties. But then I noticed that people were using their left ears, but writing with their right hands. There were a few lefties writing with their left hands, but they also used their left ears. Some months later I read an article in the Wall Street Journal where they were discussing public phones and phone booths. A Bell employee was quoted as saying the booths are designed for people to use their left hand for holding the receiver because people want to have their right hand free for writing. From my previous observation, I knew this was incorrect. The lefties I saw propped the receiver up with their left shoulder and wrote with their left hand. I have sinced noticed a few people who use their right ear for the phone. Many of these people are left-handed, and those who are right-handed are very often people who were forced from left-handedness to right-handedness as children. Another observation I have had about the asymmetry of the nervous system concerns color vision. For a while, I did a lot of color photography. This made me sensitive to subtle casts of color (called color temperature). To make a "normal" looking photo, you have to adjust the color temperature for the subject, the source of light, and the film. If your color temperature is too high, the photo has a bluish cast. Too low, a yellowish cast. My observation is that my eyes each have a very slightly different color temperature. If I switch between them, I notice my left eye has a lower color temperature than my right. Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)
porges@inmet.UUCP (10/30/85)
A propos of asymmetry: when I got contact lenses, I found that I had more trouble getting used to putting it in my left eye than my right. My optometrist said that for some reason, right-handers tend to be more sensitive (at least to touch) in the left eye. -- Don Porges ...harpo!inmet!porges ...hplabs!sri-unix!cca!ima!inmet!porges ...yale-comix!ima!inmet!porges
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (11/07/85)
> Since I've bought a walkman I've noticed that there is a major > difference in the hearing of my two ears. (Actually I've considered > that for a long time its just that the walkman made it obvious). > My left ear is much more sensitive than my right ear. I seem to have > suficient hearing in both ears because I've had my hearing checked > a few times and no one mentioned any problem. My ability to figure > out the direction a sound is coming from is not good but not terrible > either. Oh yes, I think I've had this condition since childhood > but am not positive. I ask the combined expertise of net.med . > Should I do something about this? If so what? Right now I am doing > nothing. Generally this is the right choice in my experience but > on the other hand I am a great believer in preventative medicine. I would make an IMMEDIATE effort to be examined by a competent physician with en ENT specialty. At that time, you would have your hearing checked using an audiometer, which will provide a quantitative evaluation of your hearing ability. What would concern me is the CAUSE of any hearing impairment. It may simply be some congenital anomaly, or it may be some other medical condition which COULD be corrected, or which COULD be getting worse if left untreated. Certainly, from what you say, your problem is not correcting itself by natural means. At least ascertain the facts and see what your options are. === Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York === === UUCP {decvax,dual,rocksanne,rocksvax,watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry === === VOICE 716/741-9185 {rice,shell}!baylor!/ === === FAX 716/741-9635 {AT&T 3510D} ihnp4!/ === === === === "Have you hugged your cat today?" ===