Earplugs and psychoacoustics

[waltdogg]

Idk where else to put this but I just have an interesting question to pose. For those of you that wear earplugs; when you stand in front of your cab facing it while playing, does it every sound like more sound is coming from the speaker on the left or even off the left panel of the cab itself? It's the weirdest thing, when I don't wear earplugs I don't notice any beaming or anything, when I do I notice this. Anyone else notice it? It's starting to bug the shit out of me.

[SquareWaveFuzz]

I'd guess that the earplug in your left ear isn't blocking as much sound, so it sounds like the sound is coming from the left because it's louder that side?

[Dark Barn]

Maybe the size of the cavity in your left ear is tuned to a resonant frequency when you have a plug in it? That's my crazy guess. Try listening to music on over the ear headphones, at high volume, then try again with earplugs.

[John Matrix]

Try custom fitted earplugs maybe.

I noticed that when wearing the foam earplugs my left ear had a looser fit than my right. As a result I'd get weird vibration noises coming out my left ear. Sometimes my left ear would ring after shows even when wearing earplugs, while my right ear did not. I got custom fitted earplugs and it solved the problem.

[waltdogg]

I wear those Vater earplugs with the switchable filters. I recently switched from the green filters to the red filters thinking that the the green ones are worn out. No luck there. And I always have a hard time getting earplugs to stay in my ears, maybe just a little bit more on the left side. But I end up standing towards the left of my cabs to "center" myself in the sound.