I became very aware of this in my early days as I was sitting in a class at a regional convention. The teacher was doing some tuning and the piano was 30+ feet away. I thought "I wish I could hear those beats this well when I'm right at the piano." The hearing protectors give you this effect. Oh, and when your hearing is muffled after a rock concert, it's not from the muscle contractions, but from cochlear fatigue. Too much of that and you'll get cochlear damage. dp David M. Porritt, RPT dporritt at smu.edu -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of ljinno at googlemail.com Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 8:38 AM To: brhebert at verizon.net; pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Hearing Protection Blaine Hebert wrote " I wear them religiously when I tune and even when I drive and listen to the radio (it improves sound quality)". _______________ Improve sound? I have read posts about ear plugs, but assumed tuners who use machines use them. Is this a correct assumption? Is it not hard enough to hear those treble frequencies without earplugs. Lee ------Original Message------ From: Blaine Hebert Sender: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org To: pianotech at ptg.org ReplyTo: brhebert at verizon.net ReplyTo: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Hearing Protection Sent: 5 Sep 2009 00:07 When I developed permanent tinnitus (with only slight hearing loss) I became a serious devote of ear plugs. These are my favorite: http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/ultrafit25.html I wear them religiously when I tune and even when I drive and listen to the radio (it improves sound quality). Unfortunately, being religious about this, most of my friends and relatives who also tune or play music tend to avoid me or change the topic when I start to preach. I even have bought these in quantity to pass out for free and no one is interested. The memories of my grandfather fighting with his hearing aids (while tuning) seem to have faded fast. A little hearing loss doesn't sound like a serious problem, but your hearing damage may come in the form of constant, painful screeching; not a pleasant consequence. Tuning is harmful to hearing! Wear the plugs! Blaine Hebert
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