K8MR said "I ... think that ours have adapted to listening to weak signals
amongst lots of QRM and QRN, in a way that those of non-contesting hams have
not. It would be fascinating to see how the brains of contesters vs.
non-contesters vs. non-hams behave as they process chaotic sound information."
One data point. As my hearing got weaker -- especially the notch at 4KHz --
about 10 years ago I went for an audiogram. I had absolutely no trouble
hearing the pure tones -- I'm even sure I got the call signs! But on the
spoken word tests I sure could tell where my loss was. That might not be sound
(oops!) like scientific proof, but billions of tax dollars have been expended
on weaker evidence. I always wondered if long term active ham radio
contributed to my reduction in auditory capacity. And nowadays I can't copy
SSB worth a darn (and ask the other W3LPL op's how loud I run the audio for
CW!). Maybe that has something to do with my preference for CW over 'phone.
OTOH, K1JX once mentioned hearing (oops, again!) from a mental health nurse
about some communications disorder that was more prevalent among hams,
especially CW operators, than in the general population. Anybody know
anything about that?
73, Art K3KU
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