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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=730592703-11062006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Ask your audiologist if s/he knows about "singer's
formant"...... It affects the carrying power of the voice, and lies
in the 2.5-3.0hz range where also some of the non voiced consonants lie. It is
primal for singers, though persons who speak regularly and need to project need
to have some help there if they've begun to lose the of their
hearing.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=730592703-11062006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>les bartlett</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org
[mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>John M.
Formsma<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, June 10, 2006 6:44 PM<BR><B>To:</B> 'Pianotech
List'<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: Follow-up on hearing
protection<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Geoff,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">After all the list talk
that began about hearing, I made an appointment for Tuesday to see my
audiologist. Around here, they give hearing screenings for free. Might be true
in your area. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Also, I asked the
audiologist about whether our specialized listening could modify our regular
conversational hearing ability. (Not a damage thing, more of a filtering type
thing.) He thought it sounded reasonable, though he had never read any study
about it. He’s a former band teacher, so is familiar with our field and our
needs as piano techs. He also has a testing device that will test up to 12Khz,
so I will be interested to see how hearing tones up there compares with being
able to hear speech.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">John
Formsma<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<HR tabIndex=-1 align=center width="100%" SIZE=2>
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">From:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">
pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On Behalf Of </SPAN></B>Geoff Sykes<BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Saturday, June 10, 2006 4:38
PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Pianotech@Ptg.
Org<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Follow-up on
hearing protection</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Well, my original question about the
Zem ear plugs never even got addressed, but the thread turned into something
interesting anyway. Now let's take it a step further.
</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I had an experience yesterday that
suddenly slammed this subject home for me. While prepping a new piano at a store
the manager claimed to be hearing a squeak in two adjacent keys. I could hear a
slight rubbing, but no squeak. Everyone else in the store, (<STRONG><B><FONT
face=Arial><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">much</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG>
younger than me btw), could hear it. Just by chance a fellow tech walked in.
This person is a little younger than me but what makes a real difference is that
this person is female, and it has been proven that women have much better
hearing then men, and keep it longer. She could also hear it fine. She also
found the problem and fixed it. Turned out to be a small piece of wood shaving
between two of the keys. She blew it out and the squeak was gone.
</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">So, today I decided to check out
just how my ears were behaving. Just what COULD I still hear? Surely there must
be an online resource that could provide some clue prior to actually paying to
see a doctor. Well my friends, there is! A company called Digital Recordings
offers a <STRONG><B><U><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">free</SPAN></FONT></U></B></STRONG> "professional"
hearing test online. It offers 24 test frequencies from 20 Hz to 20KHz with SPL
ranging from 0 - 80 db in 1 db steps. It requires the Java plug in, some VERY
good headphones and a VERY quiet room. I could not get it to run in IE but on
Firefox it ran perfectly. Check it out.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
href="http://www.digital-recordings.com/hearing-test/www-ht-pro/ht_help_p.html">http://www.digital-recordings.com/hearing-test/www-ht-pro/ht_help_p.html</A></SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Needless to say I was extremely
disappointed in my results. But, as an excuse, I have old crappy headphones,
live next to a busy street and there is street construction going outside. I
plan to find some decent headphones and try it again in a quiet place, but I
don't expect significantly different results. (- sigh -) Fortunately the top
note on a piano, (C8), is only around 4186 Hz. Well below where my HF
degradation started to kick in. (Whew!)
Still...</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Enjoy. I expect
reports.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">-- Geoff
Sykes</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">-- Assoc. <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Los
Angeles</st1:place></st1:City></SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV><BR>
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