Listening in the dark

I discovered this way of listening to music about 40 years ago. It works great! Just turn all the lights off before you sit down to listen, close your eyes and be transported to another place (by the music). Have you ever noticed how some people close their eyes at a concert? It is to get this same benefit. There is actual science behind this phenomenon; it is called “Sensory Deprivation.” If you deprive (turn off) all of your 5 senses except one (in this case - hearing), then that one activated sense will be heightened and perform better than usual. Give it a try - don’t be afraid of the dark! Friends who come over for a “music evening” have told me how much more they enjoy the music (and the illusion that the performers are right in front of you) when the room is dark. NO DISTRACTIONS = BETTER EXPERIENCE. Let me know if you have tried this way of listening and your impressions of it.

Thanks for listening,

Chris

P.S. This is also a great way to subdue (shut up) the occasional “talker” who can’t seem to stop talking when the music begins. These “not really a music lover” types do not get invited back for listening sessions (although our friendship continues, of course, in all other areas of life).

I do this occasionally too, especially late at night.

I think this sharpens ones senses.

+1

Agreed and it’s something most of us have done and continue to do. I have a good, quiet dimmer on my lights in Music Room One for just this purpose. You are correct in suggesting that what’s happening is the enhancement of one sense at the expense of another. Closing your eyes or lowering the lights removes the visual cues of looking at speakers, hoping they will disappear. In my room the sound is completely detached from the loudspeakers, but the devices themselves are so huge and imposing, the brain struggles with this concept. Once the lights are lowered you relax and just listen more, the illusion of real is enhanced.

++1

Shutting down a sense can have dramatic effects on all our other senses and, if we think about it, we do it more often than we realize. It is about "paying more attention and “how” to do that.

http://whyfiles.org/2014/to-heal-hearing-try-temporary-blindness/

Does ‘common sense’ count?4_gif

Naw.nospeak_gif

wglenn said Does 'common sense' count?
I think audiophiles have a habit of shutting that down all the time!

hehe

maybe that’s why we call it “common” sense.

There’s just nothing like finishing a long day listening to good music with a glass of you fav bev with the lights down.

The audiophile “Amen”.

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Amen to that!

Listening in the dark.

I suspect that some of the magic that comes out of my Woo Fireflies late at night is related to this same phenomenon we all seem to enjoy in our own way. I have been telling my wife that the light is warm and pleasingly organic, and I have always known music to sound better under those conditions. Early morning, low lights.

In some ways I think there may be more to this. Something we all share at a deeper level - innate, genetic. Instead of depriving some of our senses to attain this level of listening, or by accentuating one sense (hearing) over the others, as the explanation goes. Might there also be something additional happening here?

Those sleeping life-saving traits that once helped early man make it through the dangerous night by peaking his hearing as he strained to hear everything moving in the dark might well be being called upon unknowingly and responsible for that increased hearing ability.

Or at least it is common sense-ical to me.

LOL

Hallelujah!!!

yahgah, this is funny, have you listen to Olamide Science Student mp3 download | Hip Hop Download Songs

Going dark is going mainstream: :blush:

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/qobuz-and-pitchblack-playback-bring-all-dark-listening-sessions-nyc

I’d pay for this, but I need the seat in the sweet spot!

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Thanks for the info - encouraging!

Can’t shut my eyes- clowns might eat Me

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