<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV></DIV>>One day I had to tune between concerts, with little time, I raced on stage <DIV></DIV>>eagerly trying to get a head start before the next flight of concert goers <DIV></DIV>>arrived. I played middle A and literally thought a high power rifle went off <DIV></DIV>>in my ear. The monitor was left on.The impact was so severe that my ear <DIV></DIV>>went into shock one full week. It was all I could do to get through the <DIV></DIV>>tuning. I was ready to bring a legal suit against some if I was injured. <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Last week we rented a piano to a sound engineer from Emu Systems.  He told me a number of horror stories like this.  He also said he always wears earplugs and <U>he even has his hearing insured</U>.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What a person would need, in the event of a legal suit, would be audiograms to prove the level of hearing before and after the accident.  I am working on a Hearing Conservation and Safety Kit for piano technicians' chapters so that members could test their own hearing whenever they wish at no extra cost and keep their own records.  The equipment I have would make the tests completely confidential.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The best reason, however, to test one's hearing annually, is that some forms of hearing loss are reversible and early detection is a key. </DIV> <DIV> Also the types of loss that are not reversible, such as noise-induced hearing loss (NILH), can be prevented.  Some people are not susceptible to NIHL, but it isn't known how to identify these people.  So, if I see on my audiogram a loss like I have at 14,000hz, then I know that I am one of the susceptible folk and have to be sure to always take precautions.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Diane</DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href='http://go.msn.com/bql/hmtag_itl_EN.asp'>http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></html>