I am hearing impaired. Why, when TV at mono, I can hear 50% better than

[blacksnowflake]

stereo - without my hearing aid? I found this out when 'messing' with remote control - thanks in anticipation of a reply

[dumbo]

That is an odd find. But a good one. It could be because sound comes out the same from both speakers making it clearer for someone like you. Stereo sort of spreads it - like making more base from one speaker and more vocal from another or whatever the person prefers.

Good luck to you I say. Perhaps you find will help other with hearing impairment.

[Bardic]

It's because with stereo the sounds are different from each speaker, so you could with normal hearing detect where a particular sound is coming from - like one person on the left, another on the right etc.

If your hearing loss means that you pick up the sounds from one speaker only, you will only hear the sounds "tailored" to come from that speaker in stereo, so you won't be getting the full spectrum. In mono, both speakers produce the full spectrum equally, so it doesn't matter which you hear.

[Steve]

pardon?

[BumbleBee]

Your hearing is probably better in one ear.......hence you pick up mono better in that one ear

[jumbobret]

How does this involve cars at all?

Your question is in the car forum.

[Bardic]

It's because with stereo the sounds are different from each speaker, so you could with normal hearing detect where a particular sound is coming from - like one person on the left, another on the right etc.

If your hearing loss means that you pick up the sounds from one speaker only, you will only hear the sounds "tailored" to come from that speaker in stereo, so you won't be getting the full spectrum. In mono, both speakers produce the full spectrum equally, so it doesn't matter which you hear.

[:tLucyt:]

For the person who said "pardon" grow up, you complete idiot.
I'll see if theres anything on google that will answer your question. Thats very odd, but odd in a good way really if yu can hear it better :]

I know this talks about headphones, but perhaps its along the same lines?
"I'm not an audio tech, but... For many years, there was no stereo, and one speaker (for a radio, TV, etc.) was enough. Then stereo was developed, which allowed different signals to be fed to left and right channels. This can give clues as to placement; a sound source moving through the recording field would audibly change its position during playback. So, 2-speaker systems became the norm. Coincidentally, we have 2 ears, so headphones (except those terribly annoying ones that get included with speech recognition programs) have 2 sound-generating units. Stereo was easy to implement on headphones, and it made sense! Talking about sounds as we normally experience them in life - We hear slightly different versions of the same sound in either ear, because unless the sound is equidistant from both ears, it reaches one before the other. Subtle reverb/echo cues will also be different if the listening environment is not the same on both sides, due to the presence of reflecting or absorbing surfaces and their distance and orientation. "Mono" in a post-stereo world really implies that the SAME signal is fed to both channels/speakers/ears. There are no locational clues because there is no "separation" in the audio field. If your stereo amplifier/receiver has a mono/stereo switch, toggle it while listening to an orchestra. Suddenly you can't tell on which side the violinists are sitting, but you still hear them. Both of your speakers are still playing music, but it's exactly the same waveform, so you lose a sense of position."

[curiouscharacter]

I think maybe some of the respondents are overthinking the problem. It's simple. You have more hearing loss in one ear than the other. To simplify let's say you're totally deaf in your left ear and have perfect hearing in your right. In monoaural sound the full spectrum is available from both the left and right speakers so you would hear "all" the sound in your right ear and none in your left but, because of the nature of mono everything on the cd would be heard. If, on the other hand you are listening in stereophonic sound in this scenario you would hear only the right channel in your right ear and once again, nothing in the left. Consequently, some of the music would go missing as far as your perception goes. Naturally, this is a gross oversimplification because left channel music is not confined only to the left side of a room; it does infiltrate the environment and of course you would hear some of the signal from the left channel in your better hearing ear but directionality would result in a significant amount of music signal being lost.