Random Question

[Kris]

Does anyone know why the pitch of music appears to change when you stick your fingers in your ears?

When I mix live I often stick my fingers in my ears to check the overall mix balance. I find I can hear the balance more clearly by doing this and, I guess, filtering out any ambient issues the room might have. When I do this I find that the pitch changes slightly.

Anybody?

Enquiring minds want to know.

[wez]

probably because sound travels at different speed through different materials. by blocking your ears you are hearing mostly sound transmitted through a solid object, ie your head, as opposed to through the air. sound travels faster through solids (molecules are closer together). it would be a very small difference considering the relatively short distance it travels through your body, but i guess you might notice it.

slightly off topic... has anyone here ever experienced disharmonic diplacusis? it's a bloody nightmare.

[Martinez]

ah Wez,

what the hell is that?

[chris p]

To further Wez's answer, your finger also serves as (1) a low pass filter and (2) a volume attenuator. The sound of blood (or in my case, single malt scotch) rushing through your veins becomes much more audible as a rumble at, what would people say, 100Hz-200Hz or thereabouts and gets "mixed" in by your brain.

And as for Wez, .... do we really need to know about the size of your cochlear pathology? javascript:emoticon(':wink:')

Diplacusis (dip

[wez]

... and i had types 2 and 3, a few months ago when i had a blocked eustacion tube - the perception of a delayed, higher pitch in one ear. it's like having chipmunks in your head. it drove me insane, before i knew what it was i was going around complaining that everything and everyone was out of tune. no one believed me, everyone thought i was mad, but i'm not i tell you....

anyway, i think it's caused by having one ear (and i mean the whole ear, from the drum back - all the tubes, cavities etc) filled with a really thick goo, which brings us back to sound travelling at different speeds through solids - or in this case goo - causing a change in perceived pitch.

i'm all better now. no more chipmunks, just the regular voices.

[JustinS]

kill them all....

What... huh... who said that??!!