The apostle Plato / not quite synesthesia

[garran]

Seen, unexpectedly, on one of those mutable church signs:

THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING.
--SOCRATES

...which made me think that a church revering Socrates would be pretty interesting. There's certainly enough scripture.

Does anyone else, on having brought to mind the particular scent of some absent and lovely person, ever find that their natural next impulse is to want to call up that smell in their mp3 program?

Comments

[guthrek.livejournal.com]

It might just be a wacky rumour. i don't particularly like to investigate what people tell me, I'm more of a regurgitaty guy.

[meta4mix.livejournal.com]

Googling for "mp3 deafness" was more productive. Two interesting but somewhat off-topic articles, first:

Another news.com article about high volumes, including mention of research suggesting vaguely that hearing loss in kids causes higher stress and lower test scores, which sounds riciulously oversimplified. Also a class-action lawsuit filed against Apple because their US iPods don't limit sound output to 100 decibels like French iPods do (which is similarly ridiculous, though having an optional "hearing protect switch" is a really neat idea; an old walkman of mine has one, and I would use it to compare my current volume to what I "should" be listening to and adjust accordingly.

An article about the potential sociological effects of widely accessible music: decreased musical appreciation, emotional involvement, and the like. Rah, support live bands?

And the kicker: Data-reduced audio may damage hearing calibration. Self-published on a personal website and translated from German. Lists sources for the mechanics behind the theory, and raises an interesting conjecture, but the purported effect itself does not appear to have been thoroughly researched.

[garran.livejournal.com]

...article about high volumes...

I don't think I'm in much danger there, save perhaps at concerts; but I don't think I really see concerts often enough for it to matter, and I've been meaning to start taking earplugs...

...decreased musical appreciation, emotional involvement, and the like.

Yes, absolutely! Just look at Conor and I; our respective hard drives are very nearly filled up with ripped and downloaded music, and as a result we are never excited by music nor do we ever talk about it in our conversations or our weblogs. Certainly neither of us is writing songs or going to college to study the guitar.

Er, sorry. I'm not sure; certainly it's possible for me to ignore music that's playing, if I know it. But to characterize me, or most of the people I know, or a lot of people on the internet, as someone who doesn't make emotional connections to music is obviously pretty absurd. I keep music in my background because it's so important to me.

And the kicker: Data-reduced audio may damage hearing calibration.

Okay: I'm going to assume that this just isn't something to worry about, at least until I get a better-supported warning. It's not like I don't hear lots of sounds every day that are in no way encoded, after all.


-Garran
(apparently cantankerous)

[meta4mix.livejournal.com]

decreased musical appreciation

I was quietly amused by posting that link in your journal of all places. With you, no, clearly not a problem. But... for some people, /isn't/ it often an excuse to tune out of the world, not live where you're at? The iPod seems so isolating, as though it is just you inside a pod, with a sort of small, plastic earbud-wall separating you from the other people around you and from your present location and circumstances. Maybe I just worry too much about interrupting people. But really, it is like carrying a little sign that reads "don't bug me".

Which, I dunno. Maybe that's actually a good thing, if it keeps easily-annoeyd people entertained, and not annoyed?

(Now, a headphone splitter is another matter entirely. Sitting around with someone else inside the same little world, listening to the same music, that's quite an experience.)

data-reduced audio

Exactly. His methods were not exactly scientific. "I fall asleep with the television and it's data-reduced audio playing. I feel harder of hearing when I wake up. Therefore the television is making me deaf."

("Kicker" may not have been the best word to use. I meant it in the sense that yes, I did find someone who is asserting what was previously mentioned, not necessarily that it's all that compelling.)

Briefly poking around the rest of his site does not inspire confidence in his scientific vigor, either.

And the way to counter the danger he's asserting? Moderate your intake of encoded audio. But I'd be fine with saying "moderate your intake of overwhelming audio, period", and for a completely different reason: there are times when music is good, and times when it's just way too distracting, or I've already been saturated with it and am simply tired of audio stimulation.

"Overwhelming audio" also makes me wonder what percentage of the sound you hear would have to be encoded before the potential exists for a detrimental effect. I mean, using computer speakers like you do, you still get plenty of "natural" noise. Earphones? .../maybe/. I suppose the best way to test for detrimental effects would be to lock yourself in a sensory deprivation chamber and expose yourself to /only/ encoded audio... Although that's likely to have some psychological effects regardless of whether the audio "de-calibrates your noise-filtering centers" or not. Ha.

[verselogic.net (from livejournal.com)]

Data-reduced audio may damage hearing calibration. I suspect that the constant drones or hums have done far more to damage my hearing than any loud or excessively-lossy audio has. Specifically, I've noticed long-term ringing resulting from extended exposure to cooling fans. It's a much subtler noise than music, and often nearly hidden beneath it, but the ever-present hum of technology is nigh-on inescapable for some.

don't bug me Ah, that's what I despise about personal listening bubbles. While, at one time I relish the chance to hide myself away for private listening, I abhor the intrinsic alone in a crowd feeling that can be caused with a shield of plastic plugs. That said, I also agree with you on the connections possible with a shared experience permitted with a headphone splitter. It's an intimate invite and sharing of private bubble-space, two alone in their world together.

start taking earplugs I've been carrying these awesome orange earplugs with me to concerts and conventions recently. They really help to avoid excessively overwhelming audio. I look forward to another delightful round of acen danceage.

[masamage.livejournal.com]

alone in a crowd

I do my after-school tutoring in a Starbucks, and yesterday circumstances got me there an hour before my student. I whipped out my laptop and sat down on a cushy chair playing Pinball for about an hour.

Since the game requires good timing and I don't use playlists, occasionally my music would end and I wouldn't pick another song for several minutes. On two seperate occassions people came to sit at the table near me and said to eachother, "What about that girl?" "Ah, she's got headphones on, it's fine." The first was always slightly hushed, but the second never was. I could've heard it even if music was playing.

It was kind of awesome, in a weird way, because I still felt connected to everything, and yet other people were as comfortable as if I wasn't there at all.

I have achieved Okivana.

[garran.livejournal.com]

Seventeen points!

It's too bad (although also probably for the best) that you didn't overhear a murder plot.


-Andy

[meta4mix.livejournal.com]

Masa wins five cookies.

Also, thanks for the reminder, code. I need to pick up a pair of earplugs before ACen. And yes, we shall again rawk t3h f100r at the dance. (I still can't believe that you, Jas & I were, like, the only ones willing to dance at Otakon in 2004. I felt so silly dancing by myself. A lot of otaku are /lame/.)

[masamage.livejournal.com]

A lot of otaku are /lame/.

Perhaps literally!

[garran.livejournal.com]

I felt so silly dancing by myself.

o/~ *Billy Idol's guitar riff*

A lot of otaku are /lame/.

I'm standing right here, you know.


-Garran

[feedbacksolo.livejournal.com]

Dance?? Where?? When??

[masamage.livejournal.com]

Much too far away!

;_;

[feedbacksolo.livejournal.com]

oh.

*looks small and crushed*

[meta4mix.livejournal.com]

Alas, this specific dance is in Chicago; a part of the Anime Central convention. (And it's very soon! I'm excited.) Though you folks are welcome to make a journey out here for one of these 'cons, sometime. Andy and Andrew came to Otakon in August of 2004.