If someone was to ask you if you noticed something in your environment, you would probably first check if you could SEE it. This is because the modern age has us engaged mainly from a visual perspective. Through screens such as televisions, computer monitors, mobile phones, fluorescent billboards etc.. these are things we constantly need to look at to function in this information age.
It is a fact though, that observing the environment through our eyes is much more limiting than observing the environment through our ears, which are actually vibration detectors. For one, we can only see what we are looking at, and usually can only concentrate on a small point within that visual frame of reference. Now close your eyes and observe what you can HEAR. You have a complete 360 degree perspective of your environment, with an amazing ability to pinpoint the location of what you are hearing, and tune into certain sounds despite all the background noise.
Hearing has evolved many millions years longer than seeing. It is the most finely tuned sense that we have by far. It is the only sense that all animals have. Not only can we process way more information audibly at any one time, we can respond to sound quantitatively faster than light. Of course, just like when it comes to your sight, your hearing could experience deterioration over time. This could be because of underlying medical conditions, or due to age-related factors. With the help of bluetooth hearing devices, from somewhere similar to EarPros, being able to hear everything around you can become as easy as it once used to be. Because humans can respond to sound quantitatively faster than light, this could work wonders for your auditory sense going forward. There are many benefits to using an Auditory perspective over a Visual perspective when it comes to observing and trading markets, and I plan on discussing a lot of them in this blog.
Auditory vs. Visual Response Time Test
For fun here are two simple exercises. Click on each link to test your response time.
Visual Response Test vs Auditory Response Test
Try it using headphones!! I can achieve an average response time <100ms by listening. My visual response time is >200ms. This is a very simple example but consider the repercussions if your trading required clicking the mouse before the other guy (NFP release?). Of course there are many other factors that might come into play but this hopefully gets you thinking about what limitations you may be facing by only viewing markets as numbers on the screen. It gets very interesting when you test your cognitive abilities when faced with Audible information vs Visual information, and I will discuss this in the future.
What are your response times? Leave us a comment.