Going blind for a day to increase auditory awareness...

I heard about an interesting experiment by a man who wrote a book on the plasticity of our brain. He said that subjects blindfolded for only 24 hours showed activity in the visual cortex, even though there was no visual stimulation. The brain had begun to start using the part specified for sight for other senses, such as touch and auditory. After the blindfold was removed, subjects went back to normal pretty quickly. I also found another experiment where subjects went blind for 5 days and it took only 24 hours for the effects to wear off once they took off the blindfold.

So, I thought some time in a few months it might be fun to try this! I will try and come up with some listsening tests I can do and get a friend to make lots of tracks with very subtle eq or compression changes, and I can try and pick what has been changed, before and after blindfolding. If it shows a real noticeable improvement in my hearing ability, I might do it for a final check of my album when I finish it next year for some real critical listening.

So, just wondering on any thoughts people might have, or suggestions of tests I could maybe perform before and after. It's a little difficult to make tests which I won't learn to some degree during the first listen though.

I've been TRYING to go blind for years.

It's fun trying, but it just doesn't seem to be happening very fast.  And all this dang hair on my palm is making it increasingly hard to play guitar.

feedback50


At work I often have trouble focusing enough to write code in my cubical which is adjacent to a conference table and a few vociferous neighbors. My solution for years has been to use some hearing protection headphones (no sound, just the type they use for shooting ranges). They blot out everything, almost like sensory depravation. (I hope if the fire alarm goes off, someone comes to get me). I notice after I wear them for a few hours that my hearing seems much more sensitive for quite a while afterwards. I may try this at home to break up a long mixing session.

that's an interesting observation as well.

marcos69


I wonder if going blind for a period of time, or over repeated episodes would have any function on improving vision.

I'm not sure drunken stupors qualify buddy.
 
 
Randy

Do you have to wear the blindfold for 24 hours before starting the experiment?

I just watched a documentary about Tom Dowd (Tom Dowd and the Language of Music), and he said Ray Charles encouraged him to close his eyes to hear the music better.  :-)

(Anyone that's recording today would enjoy seeing the documentary, btw. AND come to appreciate more what we have available to us and how Tom helped the process along.)

Sounds like an interesting experiment, please post your experiences!

I almost unconciously always close my eyes when listening to a mix that I'm working on, which I've only just realised when thinking about it.