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.

The Musicians’ Dividend

Marshall Chasin

Just prior to the Christmas break I blogged about the lack of cost effectiveness in seeing musicians versus clients who may need hearing aids. In that post I bemoaned the fact that we are now working in not only a market economy but also a market society, where policy and funding decisions are made based on the bottom line, rather

Best of Marshall Chasin: The benefits of distortion in music (and speech)

Marshall Chasin

Our first knee jerk reaction is that the word “music” and the word “distortion” should not be uttered in the same sentence. Music is good (or at least should be of high fidelity) and distortion is, well,… distortion. But if it weren’t for distortion, music would be thin and boring, and speech would be completely unintelligible. Without distortion, music would

Un jeune homme étonnant

Marshall Chasin

By Kelly MacKenzie, Director, Marketing & Communications Canadian Hearing Society Reprinted from the Fall-Winter 2011 issue of Vibes magazine, with kind permission of the Canadian Hearing Society. Rencontrer Luke Adams, c’est l’aimer et se sentir à l’aise instantanément. Son énergie, sa passion, son dévouement, sa sincérité, sa vivacité d’esprit et son sens de l’humour sautent aux yeux. J’ai récemment eu le privilège

Readers’ Choice 2012: Do ER-15 musician earplugs really work?

Marshall Chasin

There was a recent presentation given at the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) conference last month questioning the integrity of the ER-15 uniform attenuator for musicians. The ER-15 custom made earplug has been available since 1988 and provides a much more uniform attenuation (lessening of sound energy) across the frequency region than other types of hearing protectors that have been

Working with musicians is not cost-effective

Marshall Chasin

This is a comment I hear frequently from my colleagues and is used as an excuse not to work with musicians. It’s actually the same comment that I hear for those who don’t want to offer aural rehabilitation classes, or sell inexpensive assistive listening devices. Alas, the comment is both true and unfortunate. It really is simple arithmetic. If an

Système de projection de films sous-titrés CaptiView de Doremi pour spectateurs sourds et malentendants

Marshall Chasin

By Elizabeth Manley Manager of Trademarks and Marketing Law Cineplex Entertainment LP Reprinted from the Fall-Winter 2011 issue of Vibes magazine, with kind permission of the Canadian Hearing Society. L’industrie cinématographique mondiale se lance dans un excitant et formidable changement quant à la façon de présenter des films. Les tirages analogiques (ou films 35 mm) ont été la base principale

Retard/trouble d’acquisition du langage par opposition à carence du langage

Marshall Chasin

by Barbara O’Dea, Ph.D. Reprinted from the Fall-Winter 2011 issue of Vibes magazine, with kind permission of the Canadian Hearing Society. Nous nous attendons à ce que les enfants entourés de langages apprennent le ou les langages qui les entourent. Les enfants qui ont un retard d’acquisition du langage peuvent accéder (entendre ou voir) au langage qui les entoure. Ils apprennent le

Is a single channel hearing aid better for music than a multi-channel hearing aid?

Marshall Chasin

What a good question! And also what a great Capstone project this would be for an Audiology student! The short answer is that we don’t really know, but here is the slightly longer answer. Music, like speech, has lower frequency fundamental energy, and then a series of higher frequency harmonics whose frequencies depend intimately on the acoustic characteristics of the

Is soft-medium-loud music the same as soft-medium-loud speech?

Marshall Chasin

When fitting any modern digital hearing aid we are able to specify differing gains (and outputs) for soft speech, medium speech, and loud speech. These “level dependent” filters are a hallmark of modern hearing aid technology. There is some clinical controversy here in that one manufacturer may consider loud speech to be 75- 80 dB SPL and another 85 dB

Towards Performing Arts Regulations

Marshall Chasin

I just returned from Quebec City- one of the earliest settlements in Canada. It’s where the Mayflower first landed, visited a couple of pubs, and then upon discovering their error realizing that the local people spoke with a French Canadian accent, turned around and went back out to the Atlantic Ocean, took a right turn and sailed down to Plymouth