Strange Hearing Test?

[Geoff Sykes]

Hi Diane --
 
I listened to the entire test and found every note to be consistently four
seconds long and of reasonably acceptable quality from note to note.
However, I would like to suggest that the notes being played are midi notes,
not real piano notes. Therefore, the quality of the reproduction of the
notes in this test are only going to be as accurate as the quality of the
sound/midi card plugged into the computer on which you take the test. This
test is an interesting toy, but as a home test it's way too dependent on the
hardware you have in your computer to provide usable results.
 
-- Geoff Sykes
-- Los Angeles
 
 
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Diane Hofstetter
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:07 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Strange Hearing Test?


On a hard of hearing chat list that I am subscribed to, someone today
recommended that  non-audiologists can get an idea of where they have
cochlear dead zones by playing the "keys" on this software:
http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/pitch/pitch.html and
listening for: 1. how long the sound sustains, 2. whether the pitch seems to
rise when you go up the keyboard and 3. whether the sound is "clunky".
 
It seems to me to be a flawed test because the tones are not uniform to
begin with--unless I have cochlear dead zones!  
 
To my hearing the tones are 4 seconds in length (the chatlister said 2
seconds--I think that proves my slow computer, not my good hearing),  most
of the tones have beats of various speeds, and the harmonic content is not
consistent.  Just some examples of the latter include: B3 vs C4;  G vs G#4;
B5 vs. C6 and C#7 vs D7.  (The octave numbers are the ones we are used to
using as pianotechs, not those given in the program.)
 
Now, can anyone tell me whether the examples I gave are the same as each
other and I have cochlear dead zones?  And what would you advise these hard
of hearing folk about the usefulness of this program for testing hearing?
 
Thanks!
Diane

Diane Hofstetter


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