8 years ago, I went deaf in my right ear, overnight. Virus. Left me deaf in that ear and also deposited a strong dose of tinnitus. Tinnitus for those uninitiated, can range from a chirping sound, to ringing, to a roar. Mine is a roar, much like you would experience in a machine shop.
I had amassed by that point in my life what I considered a significant amount of quality solid state equipment, B&K Reference amps and preamps. A really amazing Esoteric (teac) SACD/CD player. Good interconnects, etc. Modest turntable but a fairly nice Sumiko cartridge. Way way way below what you'd find in Stereophile regularly, but I was extremely happy with the results.
Prior to the hearing loss, there were nights when I was single that I would crank the A/C up for about an hour so the house would remain cool enough here in the desert, and then I would shut it off completely so it wouldn't come on and would no longer produce any noise, unplug my fridge so that noise would be eliminated (after I made a drink!) and listen to music in pristine quiet. I loved that experience. it was audio bliss, to me.
Immediately after the hearing loss, I was devastated. I thought my wanna-be audiophile days were over. But they weren't.
Tinnitus is a crazy thing. If you don't think about it, it tends to disappear. As I sit here and type comments about, it's roaring like a machine shop because I'm thinking about it. But when I don't think about it and relax and listen to music there are many times I can tune it out completely.
As far as the hearing loss goes, well nothing will bring that back. Although......there are an odd assortment of high frequencies that still push through, and they come through mostly when I'm wearing my headphones. There are some pieces of music, usually jazz, where if I'm relaxed and not thinking about the tinnitus, it's nearly as if nothing ever happened and i can hear most of the left and right channel. Just no bass on the right. In reality, probably 95% of the channel is missing on the right, but it's just crazy what hearing that small range of some high end frequency can do to make my brain feel like it's hearing the entire soundstage.
Another strange thing happened over time. I can "face" my loudspeakers with just my good (left) ear, ...and I can place sound. I can hear left channel on the left, and I can hear the right channel on the right. I don't know if that's the effect you hear about when someone loses one of their senses and the others over-compensate or if it's the fact that some very few select frequencies come through my bad ear, but it's cool, whatever has caused it to occur.
I guess that's my little message. I was so depressed initially that one of the great loves of my life was gone when this happened, but it wasn't. I can still hear the difference between a shitty recording, and a great one. Still hear the amazing warmth, and quiet of the sound that my stereomour produces. And the moments when it's quiet, and I'm not focused on anything other than the music, it's as if nothing ever happened.
