I produce music, and I can tell you by listening to cds or whatever what kind of mics they used. There's a different hiss quality between JBL and Shure, for example. Production is so important and so under valued.
I did chemo/radiation, and my therapist think it's related. I'm out of treatment for a while now, but it still could be doing nasty stuff to me. Thanks for your post, always good to get a doctor's recommendation.