Question about ear plugs...

[Lance Lafargue]

I went to my local Audiologist and was tested, fitted and paid a little over
$100 for the whole visit/plugs.

Lance Lafargue, RPT
Mandeville, LA
New Orleans Chapter, PTG
lancelafargue@bellsouth.net


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
Of Farrell
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2000 8:52 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: Question about ear plugs...


Hi Maria. Nice to see a post from you. A few old posts from my Health
archives follow. Perhpas someone can post where to get these Westone
earplugs. These are the ones everyone seems to favor. Please post if I am
mistaken!  :-)

At 08:30 AM 11/11/2000 -0500, Newton  wrote:

>Kristin, try the ear plugs.  And I mean now!  They will
>filter out extraneous noises and will preserve your
>hearing.  If OSHA learned about how loud pianos can be
>during tuning they would pass a federal law prohibiting
>tuners from tuning without safety equipment.  I have

On Friday morning I was scheduled to tune in a new French Immersion School
here, so I made the appointment early enough to be out of the music
room/lunchroom before the kids arrived. Unfortunately when I got there I
found a battered old Young Chang U-116 that had obviously been neglected
inside as well as out. Hammer centres were drifting, regulation was poor,
the tone was really ugly, it was 25 cents flat and when I opened it up I
found it contaminated with mouse droppings.

I got it cleaned up, the drifting centres repaired and had tapped in the
bridge pins (some of which  would have buried themselves in the bridge with
a light tap if I wasn't being careful) and  touched up the regulation a bit
and I was ready to tune. Just then the doors opened and the kids came in
for lunch and they were not going to be quiet!

I slipped in the ER-15s again (I used them while vacuuming and bridge
tapping of course) and started the pitch raise. By the time I'd finished
the PR and tuning the kids were all gone and I hadn't even heard them
leave! I pulled the plugs to check the unisons and the volume of the air
conditioning alone was enough to deafen me! It sure didn't seem that loud
earlier!

Without the ear plugs I would have spent the morning being aurally
assaulted by the school's HVAC system, my little screaming vacuum,
hammering on the bridge and about 200 exuberant kids in addition to
listening to the lovely sound of a Young Chang in the morning. My brain and
ears would not have been happy for the rest of the day. As it was both the
PR and tuning went quite nicely and I didn't even notice the kids leaving
for classes again.

To anyone faced with situations such as these the ear plugs are fantastic
and I cannot recommend them highly enough! Don't forget to wear them when
vacuuming or doing other "loud" maintenance too!

                         John

John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada


Kristinn:

A lot of difference.  The drugstore plugs cut out too much of the high
frequencies.  The custom Westone ones are very flat response and will help
you hear better than without plugs - unisons and all!

dave


Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <maria.arnelof@spray.se>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2000 3:09 PM
Subject: Question about ear plugs...


> Hi folx.
> I wonder if any of you tuners use any
> kind of ear plugs when tuning? This, of
> course, for protection of the ears since
> one bashes the keyes 1000 times over and
> over again and on some pianos the trebel
> can be quite harsh and tiering for the
> ear that constantly listens concentrated
> to it. If theres anyone who uses or
> knows about the possibillity of
> "special" ear plugs and brands, plz
> contact me privately and I will be oh,
> so gratifyed :) Are there somekind of
> special brand of plugs or so?
>
> PS: Naturally a set of ear plugs for
> this special occation can not be anykind
> since one has to HEAR the beats well
> enough to actually be able to tune but
> mabye there are somekind of plugs that
> cut out the worst or just a little
> procent of the volume of a tone thats
> pressed. I have no use for ear plugs
> that cut out sound too much either :)))
>
> Sincerely,
> Maria
> (mar
>
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