"Background" music...

[shooter2]

I like music as much as anyone. Expecially if it's bluegrass. But I do have a real problem with movies these days where the music that's supposed to be in the background, is louder than the conversation. I keep turning to Janet asking "what did he say"? Anyone over the age of sixty is going to have this problem as it is just a natural part of aging. Things just stop working as well as they did. So, the question is this; is there anything that can be done about it?

[NVcurmudgeon]

You too? When we watch a movie at home, I often give up on lengthy inaudible conversations that explain the whole conspiracy of the bad guys. I just tell my wife to listen carefully and give me a recap. I think we need movies that are closed captioned for old shooters!

[C1PNR]

You too? When we watch a movie at home, I often give up on lengthy inaudible conversations that explain the whole conspiracy of the bad guys. I just tell my wife to listen carefully and give me a recap. I think we need movies that are closed captioned for old shooters!
Strange you should mention this! I was watching Quigley Down Under (on DVD) a couple of nights ago and for no reason known to man (me, at least) it was CLOSE CAPTIONED!!

It's in widescreen version and in that blacked out area at the bottom here shows up the conversation, including background noises!

Just wish I could figure out how it got there. I do have some movies that don't need it so I'd like to be able to turn it off or on at will.

[Scrounger]

Strange you should mention this! I was watching Quigley Down Under (on DVD) a couple of nights ago and for no reason known to man (me, at least) it was CLOSE CAPTIONED!!

It's in widescreen version and in that blacked out area at the bottom here shows up the conversation, including background noises!

Just wish I could figure out how it got there. I do have some movies that don't need it so I'd like to be able to turn it off or on at will.

I believe you'll find that almost all DVDs and VCRs have the close captions. But you cannot see them UNLESS you authorize it on your DVD player. Somewhere in your DVD Player instructions, they will tell you how to turn on and off that feature. Call the DVD manufacturer (or importer, more correctly) if you can't find that menu instruction...

[XBT]

I think the only cure is dying young. Most of the older people I know have the same problem. In my case, a lifetime of shooting and working in boiler rooms has ended my hearing. About all I hear clearly now is the constant ringing in my ears.What most people consider to be music is no more than irritating noise to me.

I’ve never thought about the closed caption thing but I’m going to check into it, as it might help.
Jim

[KYCaster]

Huh? You say sumthin?

[StarMetal]

XBT

Ditto for me too, shooting guns, making bombs, boilers, open headers on chevy engines...you name it. Paying the price now.

Joe

[NVcurmudgeon]

No matter how hard of hearing I get, my resident Princess says that my hearing is selective. I just asked her about the closed caption option on the DVD/VCR and she said that she thought she knew how to access it, but she had no idea that I needed it. Then I reminded her that I ask for a lot of recaps of movie conversations. (Shhh! I think she still believes I am very young.)

[9.3X62AL]

About a month short of 50 here, and I'm starting to definitely notice a "washout" of my hearing acuity. Naturally, The Rotten Daughters seize upon every oppurtunity to point out this age-related failing. I'm sure shooting had a lot to do with it. I view it as a mixed blessing--for most of commercial TV, it's a net gain--for History Channel, it's a PITA.

[sundog]

Yea, guns, and bigger guns, turbine engines..., list goes on. Even with hearing protection time took it's toll. Tinitus set in a long time ago. I still do good with low freq stuff, like the freight what rolls by at night. I can hear it most of time before it even gets to the river. What bugs me worse than anything is the so called background music in movies. It covers up everything else and sometimes is not even pleasant to listen to. I guess my biggest problem is when I'm in a room within several people all talking at the same time - it all jumbles into noise, none of it distinguishable. I'm not deaf, yet, so, I guess I will just deal with it. sundog

[Linstrum]

HEY THERE, SHOOTER2! YEAH, I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN! OH, WAIT A MINUTE, LET ME TURN THE VOLUME DOWN, YOU DON'T NEED THIS UP QUITE SO LOUD JUST TO READ IT.

Okay, that's better.

Getting old sure ain't for sissies!

When I was young I ignored all the warnings about loud noises ruining your hearing. All those old farts were just a bunch of darned crazy liars giving us young bucks a hard time because they were jealous of our youth. They were hard of hearing plain and simple because middle age deafness is an extremely common and well proven genetic defect. It has absolutely nothing to do with being around loud noises! When I first went to high school I thought it was weird that everybody knew when lunch was over because on cue everybody stood up and walked out of the lunch room! Oh, there was a bell that rang? What bell? I didn't hear any stupid dang bell! Later on, during Graduation Week, I went down to the nurse's office and asked for a hearing test. It showed I was pretty far gone, but not to worry because the nurse said if loud noise exposure is stopped before the end of puberty most people's hearing will very slowly recover up to about the age of 21-25. After that age hearing damage is permanent. Shortly after that I was drafted into the Army and I went down to the AFEES building on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles for my entrance physical. Out of ten Greyhound Bus loads of draftees who had gone in that morning I was the only one who went back home that night. They didn't want me because I was deaf. Later, true to the words of the high school nurse, my hearing did slowly recover over the next seven years and by the time I was 25 it was back to normal. Ever since the day of that high school hearing test I have used hearing protection religiously! I have even stuffed paper towling wads into my ears when nothing else was around to use. Almost half a century of shooting, machine shop work, and driving Caterpillars WITH hearing protection has still taken its toll, but when somebody farts I don't turn around and ask them what they said! I have already been almost totally deaf (when the Army won't take you, you are DEAF!) but I had the near miracle of being able to recover and I did not blow the second chance given to me to recover, a chance that very few people ever get. What I am pointing out is that if you know some kid who is blowing it big time and destroying his/her hearing, pound some sense into them somehow before it is too late. Besides, I HATE THOSE PHUQUING IDIOT CAR STEREOS THAT MAKE MY BACK BEDROOM WINDOWS RATTLE WHEN THEY DRIVE BY TWO BLOCKS AWAY!

Back in the late 1950's my dad worked as an engineer/machinist for Curtiss-Wright Aircraft. He got to make the stuff he designed, and one of his projects was a 50 horsepower turbine engine the size of a gallon paint can. After blowing everybody's eardrums out running this thing on the test stand they started using regular cold weather type earmuffs for hearing protectors, which were an immediate success. Curtiss-Wright had them made up special out of fiberglass with a steel wire head strap. They had two big cup-like shells to go over the ears with the padded wire band over the top of the head and urethane foam rubber everywhere. I still have my Dad's protectors with the manufacture date of 1958 stamped into the fiberglass. They are still the ones I like to wear the best, but the molded foam needs to be replaced after 47 years.

[45nut]

Yea, guns, and bigger guns, turbine engines..., list goes on. Even with hearing protection time took it's toll. Tinitus set in a long time ago. I still do good with low freq stuff, like the freight what rolls by at night. I can hear it most of time before it even gets to the river. What bugs me worse than anything is the so called background music in movies. It covers up everything else and sometimes is not even pleasant to listen to. I guess my biggest problem is when I'm in a room within several people all talking at the same time - it all jumbles into noise, none of it distinguishable. I'm not deaf, yet, so, I guess I will just deal with it. sundog

Yessireee,
That describes my prediciment perfectly. Shooten' took a toll as did B-52 and KC-135 Engines while serving in the U.S.A.F.
I spent four "glorious" years serving up close and personal with the J-57 and with nearly useless "hearing protection" there was an immediate and measureable hearing loss. I do NOT regret serving however the tinnitus is quite a bother,and the "room noise" spoken of has a real life impact as I work in close proximity with several folks that feel it neccesary to get louder and louder themselves in order to hear themselves "thinking".
Often I have to take a customer aside to discuss what they might really want as opposed to what the crowd wants. I can then proceed directly and correctly with their order.
When I shoot nowadays I feel a pair of "electronic muffs" on my head immediately,these serve a dual purpose of enhancing "normal" sounds whilst decreasing the "loud" noises.
I heartily endorse the use of the newest technology and have proven to myself many times that they work.
I only wish the technology was selective so I could utilize the much sought after "off button" with some of the customers and co-workers...