[pianotech] Hearing Protection

[Avery Todd]

And all this time working with Abbey Simon here, I always thought it was
just an irritating (to me) habit! LOL

Avery Todd

On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 2:24 PM, Horace Greeley <hgreeley at sonic.net> wrote:

>
> Hi, Diane,
>
> FWIW, when I've worked with people who hummed while they played, I've
> pretty consistently noted that these are the same people who really prefer
> very bright instruments.
>
> For me, one of the most striking examples of this was Rudolf Serkin; and
> the behavior was/is particularly noticable in recordings made during "Music
> from Marlboro".  Interestingly, Peter doesn't seem to have this habit.
>
> Best.
>
> Horace
>
>
> ------Original Message------
> From: Diane Hofstetter
> Sender: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> ReplyTo: pianotech at ptg.org
> Sent: Sep 8, 2009 12:16 PM
> Subject: [pianotech] Hearing Protection
>
>
>
> You may have noticed many performers humming along with their playing. This
> helps activate the stapedius muscles sooner so that their contraction will
> stiffen the ossicles, which act like levers, much like a grand piano action.
>
> The job of the ossicles is to transduce the acoustic energy entering our
> ear into mechanical energy, which is much more powerful.  They do this so
> that when the energy enters the fluid filled cochlea, it is strong enough to
> move the basilar membrane thus activating the hair cells, which send the
> electrical message to the brain, which registers the sound.
>
> Thus, When the ossicles become stiffened, the sound is attenuated.
> Unfortunately, the impact of the piano hammer on a hard blow happens too
> quickly for the stapedius muscle to react and protect our hearing.
>
> I've tried humming while tuning, but for some reason it doesn't work too
> well :-)
>
> Diane Hofstetter
>
>
> Porritt, David wrote:
>  > Oh, and when your hearing is muffled after a rock concert,
> > it's not from the muscle contractions, but from cochlear
> > fatigue.  Too much of that and you'll get cochlear damage.
> Right. The little muscles both react, and recover, very
> quickly. But they eventually fatigue when overworked
> continually, quit damping effectively, and leave the cochlea
> unprotected. That's the way I read it.
> Ron N
>
>
> Diane Hofstetter
>
>
>
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