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Listener fatigue: what does it really mean?

Okay, so I used to think that listener fatigue meant that your ears just kind of got tired from listening to speakers that were overly bright. I don't have a good understanding of the make up of an ear, but I believe there are muscles in an ear that, I guess, expand and contract while we listen to music and I figured that's what it meant to have listener fatigue. Now, I'm thinking that listener fatigue is maybe more than your ears just getting tired but actually, your whole body getting tired and feeling drained. I experienced this time and time again listening to my paradigm studio's. They are somewhat bright and provide quite a bit of detail in my oppinion, so I'm wondering if, since there was such a great amount of detail coming through, that it was physically draining because I'm sitting there analyzing everything that's coming through the speakers. I would wake up and first thing in the morning, grab a cup of coffee and start listening to music (my daily routine) and 20-30 minutes later start nodding off and I couldn't figure out what was going on. I've been sitting here this morning listening to my new vandersteen's for two hours and can't get enough. I feel like I could listen all day and that I'm almost energized from listening vs. drained.

Soooo, what are your oppinions about what listener fatigue is and why it's caused?
128x128b_limo
learsfool
1,215 posts
 
Thanks for the explanation, Atmasphere. I think much of this is a question of semantics, as you say - from your perspective, I understand even more now why you substitute the one term for the other in the context of most audiophile talk. I almost felt guilty even bringing it up, since normally you are the person on this board who is the very best at describing technical/electrical type things in layman's terms. I have learned very much from you about WHY I hear the things I do in various types of equipment and therefore have learned more about why my ear prefers the things it does. There are several other audiophile terms that musicians find the use of to be strange, but I'll drop the subject now - we've had threads about that before.
petepappp
37 posts
 
Does it follow from the previous responses that a large amount of amplifier "headroom" should reduce listener fatigue, assuming the amp is capable of low distortion sound reproduction? I keep running into the relationship between fatigue and I'll call it peaked interest. I think there might be a relationship but more complicated than a perfectly converse one. More simply does boredom equal fatigue?
csontos
1,311 posts
 
Yes, sometimes. Fatigue has more than one definition. Distortion is clearly the prominent one, with you also. Where's the dilemma? You're aware of both kinds. Either one calls for an upgrade, no?
petepappp
37 posts
 
No dilemma Csontos, interested in other responses, thanks for yours. Agree with your upgrade comment, including source material. I'm a believer in plan your work and work your plan. I find that if you don't know what you want, you have very little chance of getting "it". Even opinions that I might not agree with often teach me something.Interesting thread.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,406 posts
 
Distortion + associated fatigue tends to be higher at higher volumes in general, right?

Good listening pattern is music draws you in and desire to keep wanting to up the volume to draw you in even more. Down side is that listening at levels >80-85 db for extended periods is commonly cited as having destructive effects on our ears, no matter how good it may sound.

Bad listening pattern is music is not engaging and turning things up makes things worse.
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