Hearing Loss and Piano Tuning

[Porritt, David]

Haven't you ever noticed that in a class situation that you hear what
the teacher is demonstrating on the piano 30 feet away better than when
you are right at the piano?  This is the effect you get wearing the
musicians ear plugs.  Beats and intervals are easier to hear because
it's not as loud.  Yes, you can do serious damage to your hearing after
30 years of tuning without hearing protection.  I NEVER tune without my
15 db plugs in my ears.

 

dave

 

David M. Porritt

dporritt at smu.edu

________________________________

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Samuel Choy
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 10:40 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Hearing Loss and Piano Tuning

 

Robert,

 

That's been a worry of mine also. In fact, I already have slight ringing
in my ears back from the days when I played keyboards/piano in bands
(church bands, but they were loud enough, anyway). After tuning a piano,
I notice that the rining is worse for a while, so hearing protection is
something I should look into also.

 

The last time I went to a PTG meeting, they talked a bit about that. One
of the guys said that if you have a good set of ear plugs, one made
specifically for protecting musicians ears, that it makes hearing the
beats easier because a lot of background noise is eliminated. I do not
have enough personal experience to back that up, though.

 

Sam Choy

 

 

 

 

	----- Original Message ----- 

	From: Robert Finley <mailto:rfinley at rcn.com>  

	To: pianotech at ptg.org 

	Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 8:54 AM

	Subject: Hearing Loss and Piano Tuning

	 

	I have been reading the interesting article about tinnitus and
hearing loss in the Piano Technician's Journal. This is something that
concerns me since I am just starting out as a piano technician, and I am
also a classical musician (concert pianist) who gives frequent recitals
and plays in competitions. 

	 

	I have been wondering whether musicians could also suffer
hearing loss and what the difference is between tuning a piano (where
the notes are played loudly to set the strings) and playing  music that
has loud passages in it such as a Liszt's Transcendental Etude 'Mazeppa"
or Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor Opus 23  and practising pieces like
that for several hours a day. In a large symphony orchestra for example,
the sound level must be quite intense at times (such as the finale of
Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony), although there are large dynamic variations
from pianissimo to fortissimo depending on the piece being played, and
the sound level would not be not constantly very loud. Would the
conductor and orchestral players ever have problems with tinnitus and
hearing loss? 

	 

	Do the ear plugs that piano technicians use make it more
difficult to hear the beats, or do they make it easier? I guess they
attenuate the sound level of the notes and the beats as well, but maybe
the attenuation of the lower frequencies is less so the beats can still
be heard. Where can one get suitable ear plugs for piano tuning use?
Thank you for your comments. 

	 

	Robert Finley

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