<html> <head> <style> .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } </style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> 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: <A href="http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/pitch/pitch.html">http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/pitch/pitch.html</A> 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 </body> </html>