Follow-up on hearing protection

[John M. Formsma]

Just to report about my hearing test yesterday. Everything tested well
within normal limits, except in my left ear at the 12Khz range. I could hear
the tones at 25dB, which is still normal according to some standards. My
audiologist likes to define normal hearing as 0-15dB rather than 0-25dB.

 

I'm glad that I was tested. Now I know..  I think it's a good idea to be
tested periodically, just so we'll know what we have to work with. 

 

John Formsma

 

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Leslie Bartlett
Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2006 10:30 PM
To: 'Pianotech List'
Subject: RE: Follow-up on hearing protection

 

Ask your audiologist if s/he knows about "singer's formant"......   It
affects the carrying power of the voice, and lies in the 2.5-3.0hz range
where also some of the non voiced consonants lie. It is primal for singers,
though persons who speak regularly and need to project need to have some
help there if they've begun to lose the of their hearing.

les bartlett

 

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of John M. Formsma
Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2006 6:44 PM
To: 'Pianotech List'
Subject: RE: Follow-up on hearing protection

Geoff,

 

After all the list talk that began about hearing, I made an appointment for
Tuesday to see my audiologist. Around here, they give hearing screenings for
free. Might be true in your area. 

 

Also, I asked the audiologist about whether our specialized listening could
modify our regular conversational hearing ability. (Not a damage thing, more
of a filtering type thing.) He thought it sounded reasonable, though he had
never read any study about it. He's a former band teacher, so is familiar
with our field and our needs as piano techs. He also has a testing device
that will test up to 12Khz, so I will be interested to see how hearing tones
up there compares with being able to hear speech.

 

John Formsma

 

 

 

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Geoff Sykes
Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2006 4:38 PM
To: Pianotech at Ptg. Org
Subject: Follow-up on hearing protection

 

Well, my original question about the Zem ear plugs never even got addressed,
but the thread turned into something interesting anyway. Now let's take it a
step further. 

 

I had an experience yesterday that suddenly slammed this subject home for
me. While prepping a new piano at a store the manager claimed to be hearing
a squeak in two adjacent keys. I could hear a slight rubbing, but no squeak.
Everyone else in the store, (much younger than me btw), could hear it. Just
by chance a fellow tech walked in. This person is a little younger than me
but what makes a real difference is that this person is female, and it has
been proven that women have much better hearing then men, and keep it
longer. She could also hear it fine. She also found the problem and fixed
it. Turned out to be a small piece of wood shaving between two of the keys.
She blew it out and the squeak was gone. 

 

So, today I decided to check out just how my ears were behaving. Just what
COULD I still hear? Surely there must be an online resource that could
provide some clue prior to actually paying to see a doctor. Well my friends,
there is! A company called Digital Recordings offers a free "professional"
hearing test online. It offers 24 test frequencies from 20 Hz to 20KHz with
SPL ranging from 0 - 80 db in 1 db steps. It requires the Java plug in, some
VERY good headphones and a VERY quiet room. I could not get it to run in IE
but on Firefox it ran perfectly. Check it out.

 

http://www.digital-recordings.com/hearing-test/www-ht-pro/ht_help_p.html

 

Needless to say I was extremely disappointed in my results. But, as an
excuse, I have old crappy headphones, live next to a busy street and there
is street construction going outside. I plan to find some decent headphones
and try it again in a quiet place, but I don't expect significantly
different results. (- sigh -) Fortunately the top note on a piano, (C8), is
only around 4186 Hz. Well below where my HF degradation started to kick in.
(Whew!) Still...

 

Enjoy. I expect reports.

 

-- Geoff Sykes

-- Assoc. Los Angeles

 

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