ear plugs

[Steve Brady]

On Thu, 6 Apr 1995 mark.stivers@24stex.com wrote:

>
> a professional audiologist and she told me that she didn't see any reason why a
> piano should damage anyone's hearing.
>

      I recently began using hearing protection while tuning, and what
got my attention was a concert tuning experience. I had to tune two
concert grands together for a duo-concerto.  The first was Bosendorfer
which needs extremely heavy test blows, the second was a Steinway.
By the time I finished the second one, I noticed that it seemed kind of
"gutless" to me. I thought, "I'll have to file these hammers next week."
Well, I came in to work on the hammers the next week, and the piano had
plenty of power. It seems that my ears had just had enough tuning,
and were partially shutting down. My fellow tech at the UW reported a
similar experience. We're both wearing earplugs now for most everything
we tune.
      Do I care what people think? No. So far, no one's asked. If
someone does, I'll explain that I can hear the piano just fine, but that
the plugs *do* help screen out background noise.


Steve Brady, RPT        "The most expert and rapid tuners are...
University of Washington       possessed of a highly excitable,
sbrady@u.washington.edu        nervous, and emotional temperament,
                         verging on the border of insanity at times."
                              -Daniel Spillane, The Tuner's Guide