<DIV>Isn't it not only the level of dbs but the duration of the sound that is important in causing damage to your hearing? There is a cumulative effect on your ears. For instance their is a length of time that you can withstand the sound level of a lawnmower per day before hearing damage is likely. I always wear hearing protection to mow, run the leafblower and many things in the shop. Since the length of the sound we hear at 100 dbs or so is short while tuning I wonder if the cumulative effect is enough to damage our hearing. </DIV>
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<DIV>Bob Hull<BR><BR><B><I>Richard Oliver Snelson <rsnelson@bwsys.net></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
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<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; WIDTH: 100%"><BR>I did some sound level measurements on several pianos in my shop this<BR>week. The DB meter was held at about the distance my ear would be from<BR>the strings and soundboard. Using solid rather strong blows I measured<BR>sound levels well over 100 dbs on both grands and uprights. <BR><BR>What started this was the testing trick with the fingers that someone<BR>mentioned a few weeks ago. For the last year I've had problems setting<BR>the unisons on G7. Having to turn my head to focus and hear them. Turns<BR>out I've got quite a bit of hearing loss at that frequency and above, in<BR>my left ear. Turning my head allowed me to compensate for it with the<BR>better right ear. At 67 years old, I'm not too surprised at the loss in<BR>my left ear. However I'm sure that it's come on quite quickly. Several<BR>hours a day pounding out tunings has made it worse. As a result I'm not<BR>only
carrying ear plugs, I'm using them. I tell the customer they help<BR>to filter out noise that I don't need to hear. I do take them out of my<BR>ears when I reach the last octave, for the unisons there. There seems to<BR>be a difference in the brightness of the sound when taking the plugs out<BR>at that time. I'm sure it's a result of not having the previous 45 mins<BR>to 1 hr of 100 db plus sound levels thumping on my eardrums. <BR><BR>I thought you might like to know about the 100 db plus levels...<BR>Regards to all. Rich<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives</BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><p><hr SIZE=1>
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