🎸 Middle-Aged Guitarist Series 13: Is My Hearing Fading? No, It's Deepening

A middle-aged guitarist is bewildered by changes in his hearing.

Lately, when I'm jamming in the studio, there are moments when I suddenly feel uneasy.

"Wait, is the high end a bit hard to hear?"
"Does the attack feel rounder than before...?"

Only one thought crosses the mind of a guitarist in his 50s.

—Has my hearing finally started to fade?

When hit with this anxiety, a chill usually runs down my spine. Because I have relied on, nurtured, and built my band life upon this tool called my "ears" for as many years as I've played guitar, I can't accept it easily.

However.

I've started to think recently.

Maybe this isn't "fading," but "deepening"?
I wonder.

■ In the past, "if it sounded energetic, it was right"

When I was young, 80% of the sound in the studio was "momentum."
All the amp knobs were turned past 12 o'clock.
The more distortion, the higher the tension, and even a bit of feedback was dismissed as "live feel."

"Don't sweat the small stuff! If it makes noise, it's OK!"

That was the mood.

But it's different now.

I'm strangely concerned about the muddiness of a single chord, the
angle of the pick tip, and the
lingering resonance as an arpeggio fades.

Sounds I couldn't "notice" when I was young are definitely becoming audible.

Has my hearing really faded?

No, that's probably not it.

■ What I can't hear anymore might just be the "impurities"

It's true there are frequency ranges that are harder to hear than before. But on the other hand, there are more moments where I can perceive changes in sound that I absolutely couldn't pick up in my 20s.

The push and pull of the air created by the combination of amp and cabinet, the
way the overtones shimmer depending on whether the acoustic-electric guitar strings are new, or whether the
sound image of the entire band is pushed forward or sitting back.

It's not that my hearing has "declined."

Rather than the "rough listening style" of the past where everything rushed in at once, I can now pick out only the information I need.

When you think about it—

That is deepening.

■ A world of "flavor" that young guitarists don't understand

I often think this when I'm in the studio with younger players. Their sound in their 20s is sparkling and powerful, and just listening to it brings back my own youth.

However, at the same time, I find myself naturally feeling things like,
"If you pull back the mids on that EQ just a little, the vocals will cut through better..."
or,
"If you just tucked that backing part a little further back, it would be transformative..."
.

Young ears have an "open sensation." Middle-aged ears have a "refined sensation."

Perhaps it's like aged whiskey.

Even if the alcohol content is the same as it was back then, the depth of the aroma and the finish is completely different.

■ And then I realize: "Changes in hearing" are about experience, not age

The raw sound of an acoustic guitar, the balance of the entire band, the temperature of the amp's vacuum tubes, the nuances in picking dynamics, the way it locks in with the bass.

All of these have started to appear more three-dimensional to me than they did in my 20s.

If my hearing were truly declining, the world wouldn't be expanding in this way.

That's why I think again today.

—My hearing hasn't declined; it has simply deepened.

And because of that depth, I've come to like my own sound now much more than I did in the past.

■ In the end, a middle-aged person's ears are not "deteriorating," they are "developing character"

Both instruments and people gain character as they age. It might not be as flashy as it used to be, but in exchange,

depth emerges.

For a band or for music,
that is never a negative.

On the contrary,
there is definitely a sound that can only be played because you are in your 50s.

Has your hearing declined? No, it's deepening.

The ears of a middle-aged guitarist are slowly maturing again today.