MY ETD IS MADE BY SIEMENS-- IT'S CALLED A HEARING AID

[John R. Granholm]

On Mar 19, 2006, at 4:13 AM, Conrad Hoffsommer wrote:

> Back on point, O.S.H.A. tells us that prolonged exposure to sound
> pressure levels over 90dB is injurious and will cause long-term
> (read: PERMANENT!) hearing loss.
>
> Years ago I took some dB readings in different rooms and on different
> types of instruments and found that my tuning was easily over
> 90dB.  In fact, peaking over 100dB was no problem.  Before someone
> says something about my pounding too hard whilst tuning, I might
> point out that I clocked some students practicing at +90bD levels.

FYI for those participating in the hearing loss/protection thread:  I  
just finished a two-part Journal Q&A on this topic, and I referred in  
it to Steve Brady's excellent article about hearing protection, which  
I believe was in the January 1996 issue.  Conrad, I reported again on  
your results, which were first published then.  I've since also  
purchased a Radio Shack dB meter, and I'm getting very similar  
readings to yours while tuning around town in various situations.

The articles will be out in May and June.  The June article will take  
a look at different types of hearing protection devices currently  
available for piano techs.

John R. Granholm, RPT
Registered Member, Piano Technicians Guild
Assistant Editor, Piano Technicians Journal
jtuner at qwest.net