PJSprog
Elite Member
Paul, with your musical talents, does that bother you much? When you aren't thinking about it...
remember the story a ways back where I went to the Ram dealer and ordered a new door speaker, sure it had blown out.
No, it was the tinnitus. I have 80 percent hearing loss in left ear, not good on the "stereo" effect...headphones help though.
Not gonna lie ... yes, it is a considerable hindrance. When I was still playing live, it wasn't too bad. The only practical issue was if someone on the other side of the stage to my left was trying to talk to me.
In a recording studio, though, it's completely different. I can't hear many higher frequencies at all, and many others are severely limited. Some of that is due to the natural deterioration that comes with age. But, the damage/tinnitus plays a significant role as well. So, when I record something, I have to be mindful that I'm not overdoing (or overcompensating and under-doing) the high frequencies in the tones of whatever I'm playing. When mixing and mastering, stereo imaging is always a challenge. I have a good monitoring system in my home studio now, and spend a lot of playback time turning my head so I can hear with my less-damaged right ear, putting my head directly between the two speakers, turning around 180° to listen to it from behind, and sometimes walking down the hallway and listening from afar. I can also switch easily from stereo to mono in the recording software, and do that a lot, too (get the mix right in mono, then start in on adjusting stereo panning).
Ultimately, it's just another challenge to work around or through.