Electronic hearing (EH?)

[A440A@aol.com]

Greetings all,

    There were many cold mornings that I remember.  The thermos of hot
coffee, and the dawning light of day would find us in the duck blind.  The
smell of wet dog, hot coffee, and warm gun barrels makes it easy to remember
the carpet of magnum shell casings on the floor.  Yes,  it is loud work to
shoot ducks.
    There is also the aural memory of how sharp the crack of a .30-.30 deer
rifle was on a cold winter morning. Being taught by our government how to
shoot a machine gun out of a helicopter window ................  These things
stay with you.   These things are LOUD!

     So, it was not a surprise to have the audiologist tell me that there was
a case of classic explosion damage in my left ear.   It takes the form of a
40% drop in sensitivity to frequencies between 3500 and 4200 Hz.  This is the
top of the piano's range and they mentioned that most people with this loss
would not even know it.   I knew it; though my unisons at the top were clean,
it sure was taking more work, and I found that the SAT was tuning cleaner
unisons than I was up there.   The implications for voicing are much more
serious.

     Soooooo.........  I went to the hearing lab, and got fitted with the
latest in digital technology.  The Digifocus system, by Oticon.   This
hearing aid has seven discrete bands of amplification, it is set to match
ones inner ear harmonics by computer,  and given the steepness of the slope
on my hearing chart, was the only viable equipment.  A broader range of
amplification would boost areas that didn't need boosting, creating confusion
and a horribly distorted sound.
     When it was all tuned and set for what I wanted, we had four out of
seven bands turned off, and the others were tailored to match the narrow,
specific,  loss that I had.   I am now able to now hear the apparent
sharpening of a note as the decay makes it's effect known.  I can tell the
conditon of string level by ear now, whereas before I had to lift the hammer
to the string.

     If anybody would like to know what it is like, I will be glad to post
the R&D that we went through to get it right.  And it is right.  I am tuning
cleaner now than I have in years!

Regards,
Ed Foote
Precision Piano Works
Nashville, Tn.