A few weeks ago, I was the most sick I have been in a while. It started off as a sore throat, then evolved into a cough, which then evolved into heavy congestion. It really got good when the hearing in the right ear started to go. So not only was I sick, but had gained an ear infection on one side! This experience was both physically and aurally painful.
My hearing in the right ear eventually started to come back, but I noticed something was off. Whenever a song was playing, it sounded slightly out of tune. I would listen and think "this song sounds slightly flat" or "this song sounds slightly sharp." I became a little concerned and decided to look into this phenomenon. Turns out that the ear infection causes blockage within your ear which prevents certain frequencies from entering. Though unpleasant, having half of my hearing altered was an interesting experience. I remember one night I put on the Bee Gees and almost cringed because of how off-key it sounded. But when I covered just my right ear, the song went back to the correct pitch. When I uncovered my right ear, the song played differently. I was hearing music accurately through one ear and altered through the other. And this made for a very disturbing dissonance. This to me was a kind of experiment; one that made me extremely grateful for hearing music in the right key. This also tripped me up when I would play piano. Before I became aware of my altered hearing, I would think my piano was out of tune. I would play a C, but it would sound closer to a C sharp or B. And chords were a total mess. I’d tell my mom we needed to call the tuner, but then my mom would say the piano sounded on pitch. I couldn’t even imagine how my experience would be perceived through somebody with perfect pitch. With everything sounding slightly sharp or slightly flat I think it would be an actual nightmare.
Nonetheless, my proper hearing has been fully restored. I really hope I do not get another ear infection.
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