"Put a plug in it"

[Richard Oliver Snelson]

I did some sound level measurements on several pianos in my shop this
week. The DB meter was held at about the distance my ear would be from
the strings and soundboard. Using solid rather strong blows I measured
sound levels well over 100 dbs on both grands and uprights. 

What started this was the testing trick with the fingers that someone
mentioned a few weeks ago. For the last year I've had problems setting
the unisons on G7. Having to turn my head to focus and hear them. Turns
out I've got quite a bit of hearing loss at that frequency and above, in
my left ear. Turning my head allowed me to compensate for it with the
better right ear. At 67 years old, I'm not too surprised at the loss in
my left ear. However I'm sure that it's come on quite quickly. Several
hours a day pounding out tunings has made it worse. As a result I'm not
only carrying ear plugs, I'm using them. I tell the customer they help
to filter out noise that I don't need to hear. I do take them out of my
ears when I reach the last octave, for the unisons there. There seems to
be a difference in the brightness of the sound when taking the plugs out
at that time. I'm sure it's a result of not having the previous 45 mins
to 1 hr of 100 db plus sound levels thumping on my eardrums. 

I thought you might like to know about the 100 db plus levels...
Regards to all. Rich