<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>ergonomics, stress,  and tintinus</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> Hello everyone This is my first post to this list, and I appreciate being able to offer so= me possible input and perhaps a useful response. The first time I became aware of significant tintinus was after I had been = tuning pianos as an ear tuner for about 5 years. I went to a respected Ear N= ose and Throat doctor at a local university, who examined me and pronounced = that I had "Menier's Syndrome", which is an incurable swelling of = the inner ear; due to excess fluid in the inner ear. He said that I would ju= st have to 'live with it'. He prescribed some rather violent diuretics to lo= wer the fluid pressure throughout my body, which helped some, but the relief= was temporary. He also recommended that I cut back on my intake of salty fo= od, to cut down further on bodily fluid retention. An additional fact; I cam= e to piano technology from having been a rock and roll musician, and the ENT= doctor blamed my deteriorating aural condition on my previous exposure to h= igh sound levels from my time in the band. I was ignorant at that time of us= ing ear protection, which I regularly use now. I was fairly unhappy and worried about what he said; and didn't want news o= f my condition to get around my community of technicians; who was going to h= ire a deaf piano technician? Fortunately, I had a personal friend who is a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.). = Osteopaths are licensed at the same legal and professional as M.D.'s in ever= y state and I believe every country throughout the world, yet they have a di= fferent approach to medicine than the traditional allopathic physician, who = attempts to secure health through chemicals. I'm aware that Osteopathy as a = valid medical approach is much more readily accepted in Europe than it has b= een in the United States. Osteopaths, as many of you may know, attend to the= rhythmic and cyclic movements of skeleton and musculature of the body. My O= steopath friend heard my complaint, and diagnosed a pressure to the temporal= bones of the skull (right by the ear), from the ergonomics of repeated moti= ons of the right arm, from the act of tuning pianos! These repetitive motion= s of tuning set up specific tensions in the body of the technician, which am= ong other things (in me at least) set up this compression of the skull in th= e temporal region, he said. So he did a gentle mechanical manipulation to my body, yet I am unqualified= to comment on what he did in specific terms. Within 3 days my tintinus was = significantly reduced, and within 1 week, was at levels prior to the onset o= f a the high levels that had brought me to the first doctor. I have understo= od from my Osteopath friend that tintinus can be brought on and heightened t= hrough not only physical, but mental stress. He said that if I were travelli= ng and I began to experience noticeable tintinus, that any qualified Osteopa= thic physician would know where to begin if I told them the ergonomics of my= job, and that the tintinus may be related to something going on in the temp= oral bones of the skull. I have come to pay much greater attention to my physical stance when I'm tu= ning a piano, so as to brace myself so as to distribute in a much more suppo= rted way, the distortion of my body from the more than a thousand repetition= s of moving the tuning hammer per day that my right arm will perform. Physic= al activity such as the balanced stretching from Aikido practice has also be= en most useful for me to relieve the stress that I feel in my back from dail= y tunings. A technician friend of mine developed creative skill at tuning wi= th his Left hand; he decided to train himself to be ambidextrous when he fir= st began to tune so he could switch hands, which would also balance the phys= ical stress. I also will visit a massage therapist from time to time, to rel= ieve the bodily distortion that builds up from many tunings over a short tim= e period. I wholeheartedly agree that ear protection is critical while tuning, for th= e high dB levels (particularly in the mid to high treble) we are exposed to = during the process of tuning. Some most creative solutions have been had thr= ough hearing aid professionals who can mold fitted hard plastic earplugs spe= cific to the individual ear for the highest rates of sound blocking, and fur= ther, I understand these earplugs can be fitted with band-pass filters for s= pecific frequency ranges, to adjust those ranges for specific dB levels. The= earplugs of this nature aren't cheap; I believe to be more than $100 per pa= ir. My personal everyday preference is the foam earplug that is cheap and av= ailable in nearly any drug store; and affords a 29-31 db level of protection= . I don't pretend that a visit to an Osteopath will work for everyone, or eve= n anyone else. Yet we who make our livlng from the construction of sonic str= uctures may be fairly sensitive to this problem of tintinus. Ergonomics in t= he generation of tintinus may be useful to consider, along with ear protecti= on and methods of reducing of personal mental stress. I hope this has been of use, and greetings to the list. Anthony Wright <BLOCKQUOTE> From: "Gregor Weldert" <gregor_weldert@hotmail.com><= BR> Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 13:18:47 +0200 To: "pianotech mailinglist" <pianotech@ptg.org> Subject: tinnitus and tuning? </BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE>Hi list, i fear i got a tinnitus, but i hope it is= not forever. I hear on both ears a 8 khz-tone with 6-8 db. Is anybody in this list with the same pro= blem? Which experience did you make with it? Is it possible to keep on tunin= g pianos? I got it since 1 week and i will wait until next week. Then i will= see what problems will encounter with tuning. Gregor Weldert Germany </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY> </HTML>