6 ms·

I’ve been practicing this for years and it’s quite useful. It’s not like seeing of course, but I’m able to get an idea of a room size and material hard/softness

I’ve been practicing this for years and it’s quite useful. It’s not like seeing of course, but I’m able to get an idea of a room size and material hard/softness. Useful for not walking into walls in the dark or finding something when I don’t want to wake my SO. In general I’ve always been into sound and I think a lot of people have better hearing than they think, but never learned to hear well. I find it odd that we have such prominent childhood learning focused around sight (shapes, colors, etc) but barely teach children anything about hearing beyond animal sounds. I’m not advocating golden ears courses for kindergartens, but listening skills can be quite useful in lots of situations, not the least of which is situational awareness.

jfries 8y ago
What do you consider good hearing skills to practice, except echolocating?
- Rumudiez 8y ago
  As one example, I’ve seen kids develop perfect pitch growing up in highly musical environments. I think it’s easier for them to learn it than adults, but it becomes a lifelong skill.
  - acjohnson55 8y ago
    I think relative pitch is much more useful (e.g. identifying harmonies and notes relative to a tonic center).
    - yesenadam 8y ago
      (Perfect pitch here) Hehe how is it "much more useful"? When I hear music, I simultaneously know what all the notes and chords are. That's what hearing music is for me. I can't imagine not having it, as an improvising musician. Hearing a note or chord without knowing exactly what is is?! People without it somehow manage, but it is like flying blind.
      - DenisM 8y ago
        Bats fly blind tho.
        arthurcolle 8y ago
        This is false. Bats are not blind. No bat species are blind. Microbats have poor visual acuity but their vision is on par with a human's. Reference: Tuttle's work
        DenisM 8y ago
        And that's what I get for relying on "blind as a bat" folklore without checking it. Thank you. I must now ascertain the veracity of the “as poor as a church mouse” trope.
        PakG1 8y ago
        I'm quite confident that church mice are still poor, though they may be richer than street mice. :D
        arthurcolle 8y ago
        You should now go donate some bucks to Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation for your sins (https://merlintuttlesbatconservation.kindful.com/ https://merlintuttlesbatconservation.kindful.com/) ;) since they are by far the coolest mammal. Humans are OK too I guess... I have a really hard time believing any of these echolocation claims by individuals. I can see it maybe coming about if you're visually disabled and over a very long period of time it comes about as your visual cortex atrophies with no stimulation, but otherwise, even if you close your eyes and deeply focus, there are just so many extraneous noises in daily life that would be hard to integrate into a single synthesized whole that is actually meaningful in any kind of physical displacement decisions. I didn't even know about that trope? Is that even a real expression or did you just make it up? Makes zero sense.
        PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  - ves 8y ago
    You cannot develop perfect pitch as an adult (really some time around six - eight years of age seems to be the cutoff). You can develop really good relative pitch at any point though, which is still tremendously valuable.
- boon 8y ago
  One of my hobbies is birding: specifically going out and trying to count all the birds I can find down to a species level. This requires a good ear to do well. Many times I find myself closing my eyes and pausing all bodily motion to really listen intently for the low chips of a sparrow, or distant drumming of a woodpecker.
- praptak 8y ago
  Recognizing intervals. There's a lot of free apps for this.
- p1esk 8y ago
  Listen to Morse code.
bjelkeman-again 8y ago
Situational awareness goes way down when people walk around with headphones with loud music. I notice it on a lot of people and how they behave in traffic. Just listening to things around you can be quite interesting as you move around. I never wear headphones for this reason. On interesting thing is to open the windows (and sunroof) in an electric car, whilst driving in built up areas < 20 mph/35 km/h, you hear a lot more what is going on (including insects and birds) and it is a very different experience.
- njarboe 8y ago
  On a motorcycle one is much more connected to the environment and I think that is one reason people like them. Its fun to come down into a hollow and feel the temperature change. Smells are also easily detected. Sound, on the other hand, is mostly the motorcycle noise (which can be fun too). Reading this comment made me think it would be really interesting to try out an electric motorcycle.
  - avhon1 8y ago
    An electric motorcycle probably emphasizes the need for a very well-designed helmet. At 60+mph, wind noise from the helmet could still drown out environmental noise.
  - stunthamsterio 8y ago
    I heartily recommend trying one. I ride a ZeroSR and it's just a different experience, riding sedately along country lanes allows you to appreciate things in a whole new way. It takes some getting used to though, first few times I stopped it was eerie being able to hear nothing but the traffic next to me rather then the bike itself.
  - lorenzhs 8y ago
    Or a bicycle or e-bike. Those are also pretty quiet and fun to ride.
    - njarboe 8y ago
agumonkey 8y ago
It's fun to train your sense/brain. Since I started learning music, I try to detect harmonics in mechanics (train, car). Also I wonder how much of this will come to you naturally if you live in the wild. You rely on so many minute signals ..

jfries 8y ago

What do you consider good hearing skills to practice, except echolocating?

Rumudiez 8y ago
As one example, I’ve seen kids develop perfect pitch growing up in highly musical environments. I think it’s easier for them to learn it than adults, but it becomes a lifelong skill.
- acjohnson55 8y ago
  I think relative pitch is much more useful (e.g. identifying harmonies and notes relative to a tonic center).
  - yesenadam 8y ago
    (Perfect pitch here) Hehe how is it "much more useful"? When I hear music, I simultaneously know what all the notes and chords are. That's what hearing music is for me. I can't imagine not having it, as an improvising musician. Hearing a note or chord without knowing exactly what is is?! People without it somehow manage, but it is like flying blind.
    - DenisM 8y ago
      Bats fly blind tho.
      - arthurcolle 8y ago
        This is false. Bats are not blind. No bat species are blind. Microbats have poor visual acuity but their vision is on par with a human's. Reference: Tuttle's work
        DenisM 8y ago
        And that's what I get for relying on "blind as a bat" folklore without checking it. Thank you. I must now ascertain the veracity of the “as poor as a church mouse” trope.
        PakG1 8y ago
        I'm quite confident that church mice are still poor, though they may be richer than street mice. :D
        arthurcolle 8y ago
        You should now go donate some bucks to Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation for your sins (https://merlintuttlesbatconservation.kindful.com/ https://merlintuttlesbatconservation.kindful.com/) ;) since they are by far the coolest mammal. Humans are OK too I guess... I have a really hard time believing any of these echolocation claims by individuals. I can see it maybe coming about if you're visually disabled and over a very long period of time it comes about as your visual cortex atrophies with no stimulation, but otherwise, even if you close your eyes and deeply focus, there are just so many extraneous noises in daily life that would be hard to integrate into a single synthesized whole that is actually meaningful in any kind of physical displacement decisions. I didn't even know about that trope? Is that even a real expression or did you just make it up? Makes zero sense.
        PhasmaFelis 8y ago
- ves 8y ago
  You cannot develop perfect pitch as an adult (really some time around six - eight years of age seems to be the cutoff). You can develop really good relative pitch at any point though, which is still tremendously valuable.
boon 8y ago
One of my hobbies is birding: specifically going out and trying to count all the birds I can find down to a species level. This requires a good ear to do well. Many times I find myself closing my eyes and pausing all bodily motion to really listen intently for the low chips of a sparrow, or distant drumming of a woodpecker.
praptak 8y ago
Recognizing intervals. There's a lot of free apps for this.
p1esk 8y ago
Listen to Morse code.

bjelkeman-again 8y ago

Situational awareness goes way down when people walk around with headphones with loud music. I notice it on a lot of people and how they behave in traffic. Just listening to things around you can be quite interesting as you move around. I never wear headphones for this reason. On interesting thing is to open the windows (and sunroof) in an electric car, whilst driving in built up areas < 20 mph/35 km/h, you hear a lot more what is going on (including insects and birds) and it is a very different experience.

njarboe 8y ago
On a motorcycle one is much more connected to the environment and I think that is one reason people like them. Its fun to come down into a hollow and feel the temperature change. Smells are also easily detected. Sound, on the other hand, is mostly the motorcycle noise (which can be fun too). Reading this comment made me think it would be really interesting to try out an electric motorcycle.
- avhon1 8y ago
  An electric motorcycle probably emphasizes the need for a very well-designed helmet. At 60+mph, wind noise from the helmet could still drown out environmental noise.
- stunthamsterio 8y ago
  I heartily recommend trying one. I ride a ZeroSR and it's just a different experience, riding sedately along country lanes allows you to appreciate things in a whole new way. It takes some getting used to though, first few times I stopped it was eerie being able to hear nothing but the traffic next to me rather then the bike itself.
- lorenzhs 8y ago
  Or a bicycle or e-bike. Those are also pretty quiet and fun to ride.
  - njarboe 8y ago

agumonkey 8y ago

It's fun to train your sense/brain. Since I started learning music, I try to detect harmonics in mechanics (train, car). Also I wonder how much of this will come to you naturally if you live in the wild. You rely on so many minute signals ..