Marshall Chasin

Marshall Chasin, AuD, is an audiologist and the Director of Auditory Research at the Musicians’ Clinics of Canada, Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto (in Linguistics), Associate Professor in the School of Communication Disorders and Sciences at the Western University. He is the author of over 200 articles and 7 books including Musicians and the Prevention of Hearing Loss. Dr. Chasin has been the recipient of many awards over the years including the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Award for service to Canada and the Canada 150 Medal in 2017. He has developed a new TTS app called Temporary Hearing Loss Test app.

Three Myths about Programming Hearing Aids for Music

Marshall Chasin

Most of our training regarding hearing aids for hard-of-hearing people is based on the characteristics of speech. This makes sense because most of our clients are primarily concerned with hearing speech in quiet, and in noise. But what about those people who need amplification to help them play music, or clients who just want to be able to listen to music

How to test for music-induced distortion in your favorite MP3 player earphone

Marshall Chasin

From time to time, we would like to glean some additional information about a hearing aid or a consumer product such as an earphone for an MP3 player that is not on the specification sheet. Usually we just call up an engineer-friend in the back office and that’s the end of it. Or perhaps a special test needs to be

Audiometric asymmetries with some musicians- Reverberation Phenomena. Part 3 of 3

Marshall Chasin

In part 1 and part 2 of this series of blog posts, we described the acoustics that explain why audiometric asymmetries are found in some musicians (and rarely found in industrial workers). In the last blog, the physics of wavelength phenomena were discussed, and now we turn our attention to the exciting world of reverberation. Reverberation is one of those phenomena

Audiometric asymmetries with some musicians- Wavelength Phenomena. Part 2 of 3

Marshall Chasin

Part 1 in of this series of blog posts gave an overview of why musicians may have different degrees of hearing loss in their right and left ears. Typically, hearing loss is thought to be equal in both ears, or symmetrical, unless there is a reason for a difference. Clinically the reasons may be a growth or schwanoma on the VIIIth

Audiometric asymmetries with some musicians – Part 1 of 3

Marshall Chasin

In audiology it is almost a “Mom and apple pie” statement that hearing loss as a result of noise exposure (noise induced hearing loss or NIHL), and also hearing loss associated with aging (presbycusis), are symmetrical- the same in both ears. Therefore, an audiogram that shows significant differences between the right and left ear is usually a warning sign that

Hearing conservation: Federal or local policies?

Marshall Chasin

I recently attended the 40th annual National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) convention in New Orleans. The meeting was quite interesting, and not just because it took me to New Orleans, a city I had never visited before and where, after 5 days of eating raw oysters and jambalaya, I was dying for something bland like a peanut butter sandwich. It was also interesting

En Première Ligne

Marshall Chasin

par Carole Willans Tout récemment, j’ai découvert une nouvelle façon d’entendre. J’ai une profonde déficience auditive bilatérale depuis un accident qui s’est produit alors que j’avais quatre ans. Je n’ai aucun souvenir d’avoir entendu normalement et j’ai porté deux puissants appareils auditifs depuis aussi longtemps que je me souviennes. En décembre dernier, j’ai vécu un changement majeur : j’entends maintenant

Sounds of Silence

Marshall Chasin

The U.S. National Park Service, using some interesting computer projections and simulations, has recently come out with a “noise map” of the entire continent. And the winner is… Well, I am not sure that it’s the “winner”, whatever that may be. But the Eastern part of the United States in noisier than the Western part. This is a great map

I’m not tone deaf

Marshall Chasin

It was 1961 and I, like many of my second grade friends (we call it grade 2 in Canada), were asked to try out for the school choir. I presume that they needed as many high-pitched voices to balance the macho adult sixth-grade kids in the choir. Awaiting my turn, I glanced out the window during the recess break (which

How musicians’ earplugs may be useful in post-concussion syndrome

Marshall Chasin

Post-concussion syndrome is a group of symptoms that can occur for days, weeks, months, or even up to a year or two after a head injury. It is considered to be a mild form of traumatic brain injury and about 1 in 6 people experience this after a concussion. The etiology and physiology is not well understood. There really is