Roger, I hope my experience, and a particular product I use, can be of use. This works for aural and ETD all the same.
At 17, I had a music teacher who was losing his hearing, and it turned me into an avid follower/user of preventative and assistive technologies. I worked professionally in audio for 10 years before truly starting on pianos about 8 years ago, using the same protective tools for both careers. Even so, I have sustained some hearing loss a little beyond what's average for my age.
What I passionately recommend for all tuners are molded musicians ear plus. They are shaped to your ear canal to create the most comfort, as well as to evenly seal out the most amount of sound. A "flat frequency" filter sits in the plug, and create the air barrier between your ear canal and the outside. They come in 3 steps of sound reduction: -9dB, -15dB, and -25dB. For tuners, -9dB will be the best-matched, but it still means that if you're doing 105dB test blows, your ears will get 96dB. And this product doesn't solve anything for those who need to improve their hearing, rather than just protect it.
Here's the better solution for everyone, but especially the hearing-impaired. This is a product designed for stage musicians who are exposed to unhealthy levels of sound: from rock to classical. It preserves your natural hearing, but allows you to control how much volume gets to your ears.
This entry-level-priced stage monitoring solution was released a few years ago, from a company called ASI Audio (a partner of Sensaphonics), and the product is 3DME. Here's how it works: like the musicians ear plugs, it blocks the ear canal to isolate you from outside sound. But this is also comprised ear-bud drivers, and embedded microphones at your ears. Using the wired controller (which is a little box that clips to your belt/pants) you can turn up or down the microphones, to "release" sound into your ears. This preserves your brain's ability to interpolate 3-diemsional sound, so it feels natural when you're tuning and maintains your spatial awareness. You don't feel separated from your surroundings. Furthermore, because it blocks ambient sound and allows you to turn up your "ears" only as much as you need, the overall affect is that background noise is minimized. I will admit that my unisons have been cleaner since I got this product, probably mostly due to that my ears are not being fatigued during my first pass.
If you are affected by hearing loss, this product allows you to turn your "ears" up to +12dB beyond what is your normal ear input, meaning it also functions like a hearing aide. Because your ear canal is sealed, there is no need for fancy DSP filters or feedback cancellation: what comes in is what goes straight to your ears.
Other features:
- 7-band EQ, to allow you to compensate for your particular range of hearing loss.
- Threshold limiter which will stop audio from going over a specified SPL, starting at 84dB.
- If you are hearing impaired, you can turn up your ears to a comfortable level, but use the limiter to make sure the volume doesn't go TOO high.
- Will sum audio from both ear-mics, if you have severe loss in one ear, and can benefit from hearing "both ears" at once.
- Can accept an external audio feed: meant as an in-ear monitor for stage, but I have used this with a close-proximity mic, for a concert tuning with lots of background nose.
Disclaimer: I am not endorsed by either company, but I do sort-of know them. I'm repping them because, in my experience, they provide the best hearing protection solutions for musicians (and tuners).
Passive molded ear plugs from Sensaphonics:
https://www.sensaphonics.com/products/erseriesplugsActive protection/hearing assistive monitors from ASI Audio
https://asiaudio.com/I do know one other technician with some hearing loss who has invested in this system. I myself use it for every tuning, and have my threshold limiter at the minimum volume. My ears get more sound exposure on the drive to each appointment, than at the appointment itself. I think this product is a game-changer for protecting our hearing health for a lifelong career.
------------------------------
Robin Whitehouse
Santa Cruz CA
robin@santacruzpiano.com------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 08-06-2022 13:27
From: Susan Kline
Subject: Hearing Aids
Hi, Roger
For me the go-to expert is Diane Hofstetter, trained and licensed, and very motivated to help aging tuners with hearing problems. (Her dad was one.) She has tested out various hearing aids, and tuned with them. She knows how to set them up properly, which is different for tuning than for general conversation, which tends to be the default for the general public. (Hear the grand kids ...)
Diane Hofstetter, dpno2nr@yahoo.com
I've had some post-covid problems with my hearing, from several bouts not serious enough to take me to a hospital, but still not fun. The steam kettle has lowered in pitch and gotten louder. The left ear does not sound quite like the right ear. And sometimes the left ear feels overwhelmed by sounds in the middle register, like it wants to buzz. But I find (to my amazed relief) that it doesn't seem to affect my piano tuning.
I always keep the fitted ear plugs with me, and use them when any loud sounds are encountered.
It has always seemed to me that the time when I would give in and buy an ETD would be if I could no longer hear octave 7 to tune it. I'd use it only for that.
76, it seems very old, and yes, hearing conversations in a crowded noisy room seems harder than before. But then, in the interests of not spreading or suffering another bout of Omicron, I've been avoiding noisy crowded rooms anyway.
Original Message:
Sent: 8/5/2022 9:55:00 PM
From: Roger Gable
Subject: Hearing Aids
As tuner/technicians age, our welfare may hinge upon our ability to discern the higher frequencies necessary to tune. My case (I'm 73) is an imbalance in my left to right ear and a deterioration in the higher frequencies. This creates difficulty understanding conversations in crowded rooms but hasn't posed a serious threat to my ability to tune when I use an ETD for assistance in the last half octave. I have known a couple of aging tuners who have resorted to hearing aids for tuning but never an in-depth conversation regarding their handicap when tuning and voicing pianos. Are there tuners with this handicap and how do you confront this?
On another related thought, are there tuner/technicians that have testimonials for hearing aids?
Of all person's most qualified to present testimonials for hearing aids products, piano technicians represent the epicenter of the qualified truth.
------------------------------
Roger Gable RPT
Gable Piano
Everett WA
(425) 252-5000
------------------------------