<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>Richard:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Actually, I think the biggest benefit to the 15db reduction in sound is that it suppresses the stapezius (spelling!) reflex.  When a sound gets to a certain level your ear tries to protect itself.  That muscle trigering it is what causes the pain from a loud sound.  With the Hearing Protectors in place you don't get that reflex from the initial peak of striking the note.  You hear the note more clearly without that stapezious reflex.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ask your audiologist!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>dave<BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>--- big snip ---</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV></FONT> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid"> <P>You are not the first person I've heard to state this last point. We have a fellow here in Scandinavia who adamantly recommends the use of high quality ear plugs,,, and he says exactly the same thing... he can actually hear better with them. I think he means in the direction of hearing more focused. <P>RicB <BR>  <P>-- <BR>Richard Brekne <BR>RPT, N.P.T.F. <BR>UiB, Bergen, Norway <BR><A href="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <BR><A href="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A> <BR><A href="http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html">http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html</A> <BR> <FONT size=2 Arial></P></BLOCKQUOTE>**************** END MESSAGE FROM Richard Brekne *********************</FONT> </BODY></HTML> <PRE> _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________</PRE>