Dear Fred and List: I am 73, and have been wearing hearing aids for several years. My problem is high frequency loss, and I first got hearing aids shortly after failing a CTE exam because I tuned the top two notes 100+ cents sharp. Mine are the behind-the-ear type that permits an ear piece with a hole for natural sounds to enter. I was fitted by a laboratory that supplies aids from many manufacturers and is a part of a clinic with doctors that do ear surgery, implants,etc. My first aids were made by Siemens, but now use a more recent design by Unitron. They contain a computer chip that dramatically suppresses background noise. For example, on a hot summer day I tuned a console located next to an air conditioning return air duct going full force. The instant I hit a piano key the duct noise was suppressed so repeated playing kept the noise low enough for me to tune. Not my most enjoyable tuning experience but the aids made it possible. I am not aware that wearing aids has affected my business. My long established reputation continues to provide me all the customers I want, both old and new, and provides a good balance including a small college, churches, teachers and homes. People do ask how I can tune wearing aids, and I respond, of course, that it is not necessary to have excellant hearing to hear the relationship between notes that is necessary for good tuning, and that the aids make it possible for me to hear the highest notes. I also say that the Piano Technicians Guild has recently been recommending that turners wear special ear plugs while tuning to prevent the kind of hearing loss I and others have experienced. Actually my hearing continues to deteriorate, probably for genetic reasons. I was first aware that I was damaging my ears when in my 50s. Certain notes in the 5th octave would hurt my ears, but I did nothing about it. Now I can't carry on an intelligent conversation with my wife (I hear laughter) without my aids. Recently the top half of 7th octave began to give me trouble, so I bought an SAT. Wish I had bought it years ago. Has made tuning much more pleasant. I use it as an aural tuner which serves to both correct my failure to stop the lights precisely, and to disagree with it when it comes to stretch, particularly in the 5th octave, and to get a more pleasing sound from some wound strings. But my frustration with the top octave is mostly over except those few pianos that confuse the SAT about as much as they do me. Of course no one wants to have to wear hearing aids, but it is not a bad as you may think, and tuning a piano may be the least problem. So you can't comprehend what is said over the PA system at church and elsewhere. Ignorance may be bliss, unless you miss your plane. Welcome, Fred, to the hearing impaired. I return now to the 485 e-mails left from the 630 received while away vacationing in Las Vagas. Gad, what a prolific bunch, but the education is great. Thanks. Travis, RPT FRED W TREMPER wrote: > > Dear List: > > I recently was fitted with hearing aids. I would like to hear from other > tuners who wear hearing aids. I would like to learn of their experiences > and how it has affected their lives and profession. > > To those of you who respond, please do so privately as I don't want to > clutter the list with messages meant for only a few. > > Sincerely, > > FWT > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Fred W. Tremper, RPT > Morehead State University > Morehead, KY 40351
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