A deep listening exercise we did in Jose’s class. We uploaded all of our surroundings to our group padlet to see how each other’s experiences differed. An observation I made from this exercise was listing which sounds we found pleasant and unpleasant. Experience of sound can be quite subjective. There are certain sounds that some people really enjoy to hear, there are certain sounds people can’t tolerate, like scratches on a chalkboard. Some of us have heightened Automous Sensory Meridian Response. ASMR has become it’s own genre on youtube, and people seek these sounds that you can stimulate through binaural recording. This I find very interesting.
I have suffered from tinnitus since my early 20s and have had periods of suffering from Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome, which causes fluttering in your inner ear lobe. It is an interesting condition because certain sounds are set off by it, most seem to be sudden noises that the ear doesn’t have time to react to, like a microphone clipping… but a constant loud sound doesn’t causes the muscles to rapidly contract or expand therefor it’s not set off by loud music or the loud ambience of a busy street. frequency sounds would distort, and certain high pitch voices would set my ears fluttering, including my own when I would try to sing. This whole experience really effected how I interacted with sound and music for years. Only in the last few years through general improvements in my mental health and stable relationships have I managed to have a good period of not having these sensations. I used to listen to music very loud for most of the day, I could enter trance like states listening to things very loudly and I needed that immersion to drown out distractions, which has effected my relationship with sound greatly as I am now more concerned with subtly strange sounds, as opposed to loud and garish sounds. My tastes have had to change with the things I can experience with a freedom which unfortunately with the trauma attached to an ear injury, has stopped me pursuing these sounds that might put me in that place again, or further the damage. My experience with day to day sounds is informed by a time in my life where there were certain day to day sounds I would try to avoid, I would avoid shouting and I would avoid chopping vegetables on my parents glass chopping board, I would avoid washing up and sometimes avoid conversations with people I knew spoke within frequencies I found harsh. A baby crying or a dog barking could set me off. I know that people with autism often have this heightened sensory response, which in a way I can relate to through my own experience now.