Hearing in not just something to be concerned about as you get older, but something you should pay attention to when you're still young. I know one excellent, concert-quality tuner whose career was over by the time he was in his early 40's. When I followed up on his work I would frequently find the high treble stretched 300-400 cents above what my ear told me it should be. When I asked him once about it, he freely admitted the problem and by that time had stopped doing any outside tuning work at all. He was 42. He attributed his hearing loss to having abused his hearing all his life; re- stringing pianos, using compressor-driven power tools, etc for years with- out any thought at all to using ear protection. As he became aware of his hearing problem, he tried both a hearing aid and an electronic tuner and it was all to no avail. He still can chip and rough tune in the shop, but his career as a concert-quality tuner ended years before it had to. OTOH, I also know of another, recently-retired tuner, who was still going strong in his early 70's and whose high treble work was remarkably good even in his later years. Some hearing loss may be inevitable as we get older, but it can be minimized by taking care of your hearing through out your career. In tun- ing pianos there's to substitute for experience. You're not just getting older, you're getting better, too! Les Smith lessmith@buffnet.net
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