Audio engineering standards often present as objective, yet they frequently rely on a systemic data bias which
Perez characterizes as the default male bias [1]. This paper examines the hegemony of the male ear, a system of
norms that privileges masculine modes of hearing by prioritizing technical structure and text over affective
experience and timbre [2]. By transitioning from a visual centric auditory gaze toward an embodied sonic gnosis,
researchers can recover haptic and physiological ways of knowing sound. Drawing on the feminist listening praxis
of the Female Ear [3], this work explores the recording studio as an analytical space where sonic microaggressions
[4] enforce rigid technical standards. The author argues for a new audio praxis that centers ear pleasures [5],
validating subjective and affective sensory data as legitimate engineering input. This approach seeks to dismantle
the regulatory fiction [6] of a universal hearing standard, promoting a pluralistic understanding of musicking [7]
that is inclusive of non-normative perspectives.
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