Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
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Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#2this seems to be the same psychoacoustic effect as after some sudden tinnitus onset with partial hearing loss. the loss of certain high frequencies acts like the successful wave cancellation, the high tinnitus replacing certain frequencies acts like the feedback squealing. it also feels like in an airplane or elevator. if low frequencies are affected, the relative to common experience too loud high frequencies feel like hissing. both are extremely unpleasant.
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#3Someone at work once explained the origin to me (and my employer has done work for more than one of the manufacturers of noise cancelling headphones). The cause, as identified in the article, is when expected low frequency sound components are missing.
The normal "real world" way you selectively lose low frequencies is when there is a pressure differential across the eardrum - this stretches it and prevents it vibrating in the same way, losing the lower frequencies first. So the brain associates that experience with low pressure and gives the right sensation.
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#4> People sometimes report the same effect when they go into anechoic chambers.
That was my immediate though about this. When you go into an anechoic chamber, the loss of ambient sound makes you feel like you've gone deaf, which is as if something was stuffed into your ear.
I think your ear basically uses the change in ambient sound as a cue which produces the stuffy feeling.
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#5> More advanced noise-canceling headphones, such as the Bose QC35 IIs and Sony WH-1000XM3s, add feed-forward noise-canceling, which uses a microphone (or two) on the outer shell of the headphones to pick up the environmental noise.
My oooold Bose QC15s already have microphones on the outer shell - not sure what they are used for, but they are definitely there, with a quite prominent grille...
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#6Interesting... I experience this effect to the point where I almost never use the noise-cancelling function for headphones, instead I prefer passive noise insulation. Someday I'd love to have custom IEMs.
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#7A bakery in a supermarket entrance area nearby has some tables at a wall. They put thick upholstery on the wall. Sitting there has a similar effect, especially when the area is busy because the sound reflections from that wall are "missing".
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#8I experience this, and find noise cancelling headphones painful to wear. My assumption had always been that the antiphase somehow created a * hand-wavy * “DC offset” in eardrum pressure.
But if this article is correct, the pain is perceptive rather than physical. Given how complicated perception is, it won’t surprise me. Maybe there’s a mind trick to stop experiencing the pain.
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#9> Until recently, the models most notorious for eardrum suck have been Bose over-ear noise-canceling headphones, such as the QC25s and QC35 IIs. Yet as anyone who’s taken a commercial airline flight in the last decade can attest, these models are immensely popular. Clearly, some people either don’t experience eardrum suck, or do experience it but aren’t bothered by it.
I can explain that. Bose doesn't sell regular headphones. Noise-canceling headphones are the only option. So you use "noise-canceling headphones", but you don't turn on the noise canceling because of the uncomfortable pressure on your ears.
Re: Eardrum Suck: The Mystery Solved (2019)
#10So just add a little bit of noise back to the signal (this can be noise that sounds better than the original noise). Pink noise perhaps.