Ableton Forum

I have a cousin with a degenerative hearing disorder. Hes had it for a few years now and is pretty young. He asked me how I would approach this so he could hear more from his computer on say a pair of headphones. he knows what frequencies he can and can't hear and roughly what decibels they need to be at (some as high as 90) if he were to ever hear them again.

What I said was either his computer or the specific program (wmp or itunes) needs to use a multi band (10ish) eq. Since I've only seen an eq go +/-12, I suggested to set the freq with the highest need to +12 (in this case 90 db) and the one with the lowest need to -12 and to use that range to set all other ferequencies with appropriate db per the scale. Then to use a main output to adjust overall loudness until he can hear it.

Now clearly this would have to be al oud sound for him to get everything perfect and I did specify to be careful so he doesn't ruin what he can hear..but does that seem like a pretty sound approach to tackling such a project? Does anyone suggest any software or gear that works on the whole os (not individual apps) which could aid in such a project? Thanks in advance.

That is a rough situation. You're really good to want to help them. To me, frequencies that are lost are lost...from what you said, their ears are already sort of acting as notch filters--blocking frequencies resulting in specific loss along the spectrum of human hearing. I would think that the only solution would to just turn the volume up as the frequencies they can't hear are essentially already being filtered out.

I don't know what kind of degenerative condition your cousin has, but this is a pretty cool option--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant

Yeah I think he just wants to experience overall sound more appropriately and hence this little experiment. While I did say hes had it for a few years...its more like 10ish since he was diagnosed and since his dad has it...its likely his brothers will have it too. I don't recall if hes considered a CI...but from what I understand its more for individual engagement more than trying to really "hear" surroundings with lots of things going on. From what i gather, the frequencies that are "gone" arent really gone. They just need to be played at much higher levels than your average person could stand. Another rational to play around with this. He said he would take my range idea and put it to a test. Basically setting his worst frequency at +12...his best frequency at -12...and the rest somewhere within that spread on a percentage basis. Thanks for the response though...I imagine most of us couldn't imagine such an experience.

even though his hearing response is lower in some frequencies, you still need to be careful not to be blasting his cochlears and damaging his hair cells, which is only going to make matters worse...

yeah I did emphasize to him to be exceptionally careful on it. He is in another state and playing around with the idea on his own. I just basically told him the only real option I could think of.