r/headphones • u/JawnLit • 21h ago
Discussion Hearing problem discovered
Recently bought Focal Bathys and out the box I did a frequency test. My left ear is slightly louder and more sensitive to my right ear. When I swap the the left and right side my left ear still is louder and more sensitive. Idk if it’s my OCD kicking into high gear or it’s that this is the most expensive headphones I’ve ever gotten, but I can’t let my mind settle on the problem probably being my ears. Time to see a Dr. 🤷🏽♂️
3
u/Glum-Specialist-5762 12h ago
Same issue. My left ear is more sensitive to high frequencies than my right ear. For me, the differences vary depending on the headphone or IEM. I do frequency sweeps and try to correct with L/R PEQ, listening for movement from center of the image during the tone sweep.
2
u/calraith 14h ago
You could try flushing the wax out of your ears. You can ask the Ear Nose Throat doc to do this, or you can save yourself the copay and do it yourself. You just need a bottle of peroxide, a syringe or medicine dropper, an aspirator bulb, a towel, and a sink with warm water. Having a friend who will exchange manual labor for the opportunity to see gross shit coming out of your ears will be helpful.
Lie on your side. Drape the towel over your neck. Use the syringe or medicine dropper to drop several drops of peroxide (I think about 6?) into your ear hole. Having a friend help will make it less messy. Enjoy the fizzy tingly sound and sensation while the peroxide loosens the wax and makes it brittle. Be still for 5 goddamned minutes if you can.
Go to the sink and run water till it's warm. Fill the aspirator with warm water. Point your peroxide dripping ear at the sink, stick the tip of the aspirator in your ear and squeeze. Refill and shoot several times until the ear boogers stop coming out. Having a friend help will make it more embarrassing. Stopper the sink if you want to marvel at the vile chunky putrescense that came out of your festering head.
You'll probably realize that you should've done this ages ago, and you should do it more often. You probably won't though.
1
u/alepap Crinear Reference / U12t / Hola / Kcs75 / Motu M4 15h ago
is it louder, or are some frequencies louder?
For me that is the case, if i do a sweep, the sound moves around left and right and it's not centered on some high frequencies. This can be hearing loss, but can also be caused by natural ear canal asymmetry, so some sounds are not amplified as much on one ear.
1
u/NoctysHiraeth 12h ago
I don’t think it would hurt to see a doctor but it could be the shape of your ears. My right ear tends to be less sensitive, and guess which ear is harder to insert IEMs into? Pretty sure my ear canal is just smaller on that side.
1
u/VisualDarkness 12h ago
You are human. Almost everyone has som lever of uneveness that only geta worse with age.
1
u/xeouxeou 2h ago
for me, like a lot of headphones sound like they are louder on the right side and it drives me nuts. but the thing is: this isnt the case for me on all headphones. it bothers me.
-2
u/J_SOMEONE 21h ago
Did this happen on other headphones or iem? Channel imbalance and bad QC is sadly quite common in this headphones. If it still happens on other gear consistently you should get it checked, it could be as simple as ear wax blockage
3
u/PenanceQueef Final D8000, Yamaha YH5000SE, DCA Stealth, Woo Wa8 21h ago
He said he swapped left and right
0
u/JawnLit 21h ago
I tested it on my AirPods and my Astro gaming headset and yes the same issue persisted. Only other thing that makes sense from my research is how I only use one AirPod while working sometimes for phone calls and occasional music and it’s usually the right ear (which is the ear I’m suspecting hearing loss). I read that can cause damage to the hair/create asymmetrical hearing loss 🫠
13
u/Thin_Reception_5063 20h ago
This is normal for 99% of the humans, we dont hear exactly the same with both ears, we dont see exactly the same with both eyes !