Hearing Loss and Piano Tuning

[Greg Newell]

Robert and list,
         More than once I have pitied the poor 
student stuck in a small practice room with hard 
walls, floor and ceiling with a too bright piano. 
More than once my hearing protection while tuning has not been enough.

best,
Greg Newell



At 09:54 AM 5/5/2006, you wrote:
>I have been reading the interesting article 
>about tinnitus and hearing loss in the Piano 
>Technician's Journal. This is something that 
>concerns me since I am just starting out as a 
>piano technician, and I am also a classical 
>musician (concert pianist) who gives frequent 
>recitals and plays in competitions.
>
>I have been wondering whether musicians could 
>also suffer hearing loss and what the difference 
>is between tuning a piano (where the notes are 
>played loudly to set the strings) and 
>playing  music that has loud passages in it such 
>as a Liszt's Transcendental Etude 'Mazeppa" or 
>Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor Opus 23  and 
>practising pieces like that for several hours a 
>day. In a large symphony orchestra for example, 
>the sound level must be quite intense at times 
>(such as the finale of Tchaikovsky's 4th 
>Symphony), although there are large dynamic 
>variations from pianissimo to fortissimo 
>depending on the piece being played, and the 
>sound level would not be not constantly very 
>loud. Would the conductor and orchestral players 
>ever have problems with tinnitus and hearing loss?
>
>Do the ear plugs that piano technicians use make 
>it more difficult to hear the beats, or do they 
>make it easier? I guess they attenuate the sound 
>level of the notes and the beats as well, but 
>maybe the attenuation of the lower frequencies 
>is less so the beats can still be heard. Where 
>can one get suitable ear plugs for piano tuning 
>use? Thank you for your comments.
>
>Robert Finley

Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
mailto:gnewell at ameritech.net
www.gregspianoforte.com