I can't believe we're actually having this discussion about color. My wife is a PhD. candidate doing "brain stuff" (don't ask me to explain because I can't). I discussed this with her and came away with the understanding that the brain has a high level of plasticity (no it's not made of plastic) when one area of the brain that is typically stimulated is then muted, the brain seeks ways to compensate for that change. If you turn out the lights therefore, both hearing and tactile perception can increase. The rate of change or compensation may be different when placing earplugs in your ears to stimulate vision. Both compensatory changes take time to occur. The longer the period of time, the more heightened the change. There is also an impact based on the distance between the parts of the brain. Interestingly arm amputees tend to report heightened tactile sensitivity in the face. It turns out that the areas of the brain that control those functions are close together.
It is important to note that each person is different and unique and the neural pathways are different in all of us. So yes, turning out the lights can have an affect on hearing, wearing earplugs may enhance vision but those effects can occur at different rates and will increase in intensity over time. My other takeaway on this is an understanding of why there is so much disagreement between audiophiles. Each of us are different and unique so we all experience things differently. Maybe keep that in mind for future discussions.
