Hi, Mark: A few years ago, I ordered a pair of headphones from a hunting supply company that I hoped would do exactly what you describe. Just as a digital piano doesn't reproduce a piano sound as accurately as the real thing, I found that it did not work for me. Aside from this, it looks a little funny to customers. I use ER-20 ear protectors, recommended to me by a professional drummer. They are listed in the Pianotek catalog. MUCH cheaper than the fitted ones, and (to me) much more comfortable too. (I have the fitted ones too). I do have to remove them for the last half dozen notes, however. FWIW. Paul McCloud San Diego > [Original Message] > From: Mark Purney <engineering at raktron.com> > To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> > Date: 01/22/2007 6:46:27 AM > Subject: Preventing hearing loss > > I'm curious what people do, if anything, to protect hearing while tuning > pianos. I'm sure your ears probably get used to the sound over time, but > the sound levels from my first tuning practice made me uncomfortable, > gave me a slight headache, and I noticed that certain notes were almost > painful to my ears. > > I immediately thought about using closed-back headphones with some sort > of microphone setup. This would block most direct sound, while providing > an accurate signal with adjustable volume. Depending on the mic pattern, > it might even help to reduce surrounding noises. With some EQ, it might > even be possible to enhance the partials while attenuating the > fundamental when listening for beats. The problem is that it's no fun to > wear large headphones all day. > > I did some searching and found out about these special "Musician's" ear > plugs that attenuate all frequencies evenly. This seems to be an ideal > solution, although expensive. They aren't cheap, and require custom > fitting by an audiologist: > http://www.hearnet.com/images_site/erme_brochure.pdf >
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