CONCEPTS OF MUSIC WEEK 5 THE EAR

Ear ear, what's all this then? Shades of Spike Milligan with a copper's tit on his head bending at the knees... Wonderful journey into the ear this week with many interesting discoveries along the way. I find the mechanism of the acoustic reflex fascinating and something of a relief to know that it exists but probably not much use in my chosen sub-profession as a rock planet (like a rock star but MUCH less impressive). I have broken the so far unblemished habit of a lifetime and consulted Wiki on this and found out the acoustic reflex is also activated when one speaks, ie: your own timpanic membrane (ear drum for you plebs) slackens off before you vocalise. You can use this to consciously limit the effect of expected loud sounds (by up to 20dB apparently). So if you're watching a military display and they're about to let off the cannon for example, you could cough and possibly limit potential damage to your hearing. Or you could put your hands over your ears. I suppose. I found of great interest also the precedence effect, about which there has seemingly been an awful lot of study done, but the overall impression I get is that the brain is really bloody talented at sorting stuff out and we should all just let it get on with the job. Second to last in this blog, I must explain that I have no proper word processor at the moment and consequently no word count facility, so I apologise for being either too long or too short in my reflections. And lastly, I must further apologise for the observation that in the human ear the conch is also known as the external auditory meatus and hence the expression, "prick up your ears".