As someone with diminished hearing in one ear anyway (because of a middle-ear growth that destroyed the trio of bones), I remain unfazed by this stuff. Perhaps it's a significant loss for Townsend. I suspect it won't be for most.

A warning worth heeding.

The same effect was produced by firing M-16' M-14's .45 pistols, M-60 machine guns, .50 Cal. machine guns, 90mm recoiless rifles, M-72 light anti-tank weapons, 106 mm recoiless rifles..... right next to one's ears. Not to mention 100's of hours flying in Hueys and Chinook helicopters with the whining transmissions 3 ft. away.

All this produced tinnitus for me. A constant high pitched hissing that excludes me from hearing within that frequency. Luckily I don't care much for that frequency anyway.

Bryan, I'm kind of surprised at your blasé reaction, especially knowing what an avid music fan you are. Since you don't indicate when you experienced your hearing loss, I'm wondering if it's a case of not knowing what you're missing. Personally, I think any loss of hearing is a huge deal. I've watched my dad's struggles with severe hearing loss over the past few years and it's something that no one should have to experience. I'm not saying it's life-or-death (although it could be in some situations), but it's also something worth avoiding if you have the option.

Wallace, I never shoot without hearing protectors. And I avoid Hueys like the plague. ;-)

Excellent post, Eric. Sadly, It's information that's come a little late for me (and a lot of other people).

I was part of the Walkman generation. I thought headphones (and especially earbuds) were the greatest invention since sliced bread. My parents never had to tell me to "turn it down" because "it" was being blasted through a set of headphones. A real win-win situation.

...or so I thought.

I still use them (with much more moderation) because earbuds are the closest thing to pumping music straight into the brain.

One of my deepest hopes is to be around when science perfects a direct feed into the auditory nerve.

I'm not sure if the eardrum can tell whether the eardbud is being powered by a 25 year old Sony Walkman running on AAs, or this year's Apple running on its own internal power cell. Pete Townshend was probably trying to avoid getting sued by Apple (or having all his offerings mysteriously disappear from the ITMS).

Electronic music is a minor passion of mine so I think I can appreciate what Pete Townshend is talking about, though.

The sound is "purer" and the range of tones is more noticeable. The listener can fully detect any limitation in their sound system starting with the condition of the CD and ending up in the most vital component: their ears.

"But I know already that I'm missing some frequencies at the highest part of the range and those are non-recoverable."

The solution is easy, just turn the volume up. :D

J/K.

My father gives himself a weekly "hearing test" by starting at the top key of the piano and playing each note down until he can actually hear something. I'm amazed at how much of the higher notes he can not hear. The number of keys he has to play before he hears grows every year. Years of driving loud tractors have ruined his hearing.

I'm not an earphone wearer myself. I would be extremely upset to lose the ability to hear those high notes on the piano.

My hearing loss was caused by a growth of skin cells behind the eardrum that ate away at the bones until I began to experience some weird balance issues. A surgery removed the growth, but repairing the bones will require another - very expensive - surgery which I can't afford.

I can hear fine with the other ear, so that may explain the blase reaction. Of course, when it comes to music, I'm much more attuned to the words than any extremely high or low range musical notes. :-)

I'm much more concerned with my bad eyesight than the hearing.

Mr. Freen, I'm not sure I can point to a single cause for my [still minor] hearing loss, because I was never a Walkman-junkie and didn't do any large-bore shooting while growing up. It's probably just a cumulative thing that comes from living in a noisy society, with some genetic causes thrown in for good measure.

Julie, I would think that any hearing loss would be a musician's worst nightmare. I guess Beethoven did pretty well on the composing end of things, but I can't imagine that he enjoyed not being able to hear his own work. However, this quote attributed to one of his correspondents might give some insight as to how one could "make lemonade from the lemons of life":

"Nevertheless, I believe that even the greatest genius, when hearing someone else's compositions, subconsciously copies ideas. In your case that doesn't happen, because you have to create everything from within yourself."

Bryan, that's an age-old debate: which sense would you rather keep, given the choice: vision or hearing. I'd have to go for vision also. I hope I never have to make that choice.

This is going to sound terrible for a visual artist, but I would rather lose my sight than my hearing. I can't imagine not hearing some of my favorite beatiful music, or losing the ability to have the reaction to orchestra or classical pieces that I now have.

Of course, I'd rather not lose either.