Ken, RE: As the years go by, I know that my hearing is not what it once was, especially in the higher frequencies. Does this mean that I am going to be producing bad tunings and not be able to tell the difference? My feeling is that I know what I need to hear and I pound until I hear it but I don't know about the accuracy of things I cannot hear. My understanding is that most of us begin to lose a little hearing in the extreme ranges. Some more than others. When I lived in Biloxi, MS I used to occasionally follow an older tuner there who invariably stretched the top 1/2 octave or so, so much that it was a wonder strings didn't break. My assumption was that it was an attempt to hear the notes. I also tuned once for a lady, probably in her 80's plus, whose piano hadn't been tuned in years and years. It was about a step low + and VERY dissonant, especially in the upper treble. After pitch raising, tuning and re-tuning the treble I was finally finished. I got a call back the next day with her accusing me of doing something to her piano. She couldn't hear the treble any more. I imagine the extreme dissonance enable her to hear "something" and when it was no longer there, she couldn't. Talk about an impossible situation!! I hope that if I ever begin to lose my hearing in the top (or anywhere else), someone will be brave enough to tell me. I've often thought about having a comprehensive hearing test so that I can have something to compare it to in future years. It's one of those "I just never seem able to "get a round to it" things. If I'm not mistaken, I believe George Defebaugh used an Accu-Tuner in the last octave or so his last few years. Just a few thoughts. Avery Todd, RPT University of Houston atodd@uh.edu
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