IEMs, In Ear Monitors
I’m old. My hearing sucks. Years of power tools, especially air tools, a few concerts with the volume cranked to 11, and age have combined with male selective hearing to leave me with a bit of hearing loss. Not bad mind you, but I know I’ve lost a lot of hearing range. But I recently gambled on an inexpensive pair of IEMs, and was amazed at how much better they are than any earbuds I’ve ever tried. Even the bottom end of the Shure IEM line lets me hear things in music that I haven’t heard in years. I’m not likely to get much value from high-end IEMs, but I may experiment. And properly fit earpieces block so much noise that they shut out the world as well as noise cancelling headphones- but with vastly better acoustic range. I use them all the time now.
But now I’m walking around San Francisco (a remarkable safe city, BTW) and I’m freaked out by the sounds isolation- my loss of situational awareness makes me uncomfortable even on a gorgeous day in a nice neighborhood. I’ve started walking around with one earpiece out, only listening to music through one ear so I can hear the world around me. Thankfully I realized the problem in a safe environment.
Once again I’ll leave you to connect the dots to InfoSec… new toys, myopic focus, loss of big picture…
Jack