Going North as My Hearing Goes South

The aforementioned bad ear days persist. So this weekend might be an interesting experiment in the aural research dept. Recent Etc sessions have shown that at least playing loud (not the cause of my symptoms I am told) evens things out. This way I drown out the interference that's created irksome whistles and clangs in my right ear over the last few days.

What I currently get through my right ear:

* a harmonized and pitched-up version of all I hear. It gets disorientating especially with all the high frequencies plastered across the most polished and radio-played pop hit ballads. These create an internal mad Free Jazz whistling accompaniment that's potentially tortuous.
* heightened hearing of high-frequencies FAR AWAY - even at low volumes. One of my colleague's is unaware that whistles under his breath. I've only just discovered he does because I hear it from about 20m away! He sits in his own office two partitions and one wall away from me. How's this possible possible? Last night, Whitney Houston on the radio at a Bkt Merah Lane stall drowned out the clatter, chat and radios of at least FIVE other stalls separating.

All this provides more evidence for my theory that there's a scientific reason why cynically-engineered SHRILL music is popular with the crass masses. MARIAH CAREY at a normal volume on colleague's radio: stood out a mile. Like dog whistles.

You want people to buy trash? Load the recording with jarring 1khz bits to wake their brains into temporarily paying attention to the white noise of the radio. Better still if you can get it a nano-tone out of tone (as shown by Kenny G, Celine Dion and the like). These little pokes prompt insensitive drones into briefly noticing music for a moment - and thus it is logged as being "memorable". It's a good trick.

Pity the effect tends to make me want to vomit, and thus incapable of enjoying many of the most massive selling records of our times.