ABSTRACT
For audio professionals, hearing loss is an occupational hazard, especially for those who also play in bands or have noisy hobbies. Whether the hearing loss is temporary or permanent, it affects something as basic as one's ability to detect equalization changes. Anyone at work or at play, who is exposed to loud sounds for prolonged periods, or to a single very loud sound, experiences some amount of hearing loss. Movie mixers deal constantly with dialog competing with background music, sound effects and ambient sounds in the multichannel—that is multidirectional—sound field. Audiometry focuses on speech intelligibility, not on hearing small nuances in music and movies. Some of the audio information fails to reach the brain, and some that is delivered is corrupted. Occupational hearing conservation programs are almost totally irrelevant to audio professionals and serious audiophiles. However, for those professionally involved with the audio industry, opinions are important, if not crucial, to performing their tasks.
