Colds and Hifi

Throws the whole of my listening out.  High frequecies grate and PRAT goes all to hell.

Get well soon!

G

Cold working its way around the office. Birthday in a couple of weeks, a quite a bit of vinyl requested as possible presents. Could turn into a race against time!?

Not just colds but ears blocked with wax (ewe) is also a nuisance. I have found that getting the lugs syringed is like a free black box upgrade. But take care only syringe when really necessary (although the doc shouldn't do otherwise).

Apparently I have also got narrow ear canals which is also unhelpful and may have caused me to spend far too much on hifi have the wick up a little too much.

Have recently installed an SPL meter app in response to another thread to watch what I am inflicting on my lug 'oles and would recommend others do the same. Thanks to Jan-Erik for the tip.

Colds can make the high frequencies grate, definitely, bit like listening to an Ekos Se.

 ears blocked with wax (ewe)

I've never tried blocking my ears with a female sheep or lanolin. Strange mortal practice.

On the other hand colds definitely mess with my Hifi Zen (pace Odin) in the lower frequencies, mostly.

I can heartily recommend the flu jab. Had one for the last two years and apart from feeling a bit rough for a couple of days no sneezes or clogged up ears. Worth every penny of the fee paid. 

I had the flu jab last year for the first time in a long time, free as I work in an NHS hospital, and I developed a really bad case of flu necessitating an overnight hospital admission, at the insistence of a consultant colleague. This was my first bout of true influenza for about 25 years. 

The flu jab won't protect against the common cold Bev.

We've just been through a particularly bad cold and flu season in New Zealand. The flu vaccination this year did not cover the prevailing strains, so it was, as a health professional, all hands to the decks. 

As for colds they can cause blocked eustacian  tubes and sometimes fluid effusions behind the ear drums. This can result in a 24dB hearing loss, equivalent to not being able to hear a whisper. You know when things are improving when you hear crackles and pops in the ears which correspond to air going back up the unblocking eustacian tubes.

 1 day from posting this i can report that i'm virtually over the bloody thing - even managed a game of football tonight. Most of the lads there have also had it, so it's been a really common cold this time. 

I still think i've got a bit of build up of wax in my Left ear and did get a couple of sharp pains in both last night. Didn't last and not sure if this was part of natural unblocking you mention. 

I love removing ear wax, it's almost as great as picking off a scab.  Both need careful examination after removal............Did I just post that?  Oh f......

Originally Posted by SongStream:

I love removing ear wax, it's almost as great as picking off a scab.  Both need careful examination after removal............Did I just post that?  Oh f......

You're welcome to pop round anytime and do mine. For free of course.

Well, at least that proposition makes you as weird as me.  

Originally Posted by rackkit:

Originally Posted by SongStream:

I love removing ear wax, it's almost as great as picking off a scab.  Both need careful examination after removal............Did I just post that?  Oh f......

You're welcome to pop round anytime and do mine. For free of course.

Well, at least that proposition makes you as weird as me.  

It'll be like a black box upgrade but without the cost! 

Flu shot data is pretty weak, especially when one considers how aggressively it is marketed and promoted in the USA.  Could it be that the wholesale price is around $5 and they retail it for 4-6 times that?  When I was in retail the management was very bombastically aggressive about our "flu shot numbers."  I gave them, but didn't get one.

At times my left ear (actually Eustachian tube) will be so clogged, inflamed, and non-functional as to render listening essentially pointless.  A number of people around me have already gotten a rhinovirus so I hope I don't participate.  Going to a wedding tomorrow evening so my exposure factor will be a little higher than usual.

Flu vaccines are pure prognostication as they must be prepared well in advance of the flu season. Some years the experts predict for the proper variant, other years they don't. Last year was a miss in the US. Even when the matching vaccine is issued, the age, health, and lifestyle of the vaccinated plays a role in the shot's effectiveness. Bottom line for those that get the shot; use the same common sense precautions against the flu you would if you were not vaccinated. The shot's no bullet-proof vest. These precautions also protect against the common cold.