Hear The Music

Featured image for “Playing around with hearing aid apps for music”
Aug. 23, 2022

Playing around with hearing aid apps for music

Marshall Chasin
This blog entry is written for the hearing aid consumer (but also the audiologist…) who wants to try a few things on their hearing aid app that connects with their smartphone. Virtually every hearing aid manufacturer in the world supplies an app for a Smartphone that the hard of hearing person can use to “fine tune” some elements of the
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Apr. 03, 2022

Non-Auditory Effects of Environmental Noise

Marshall Chasin
by Marshall Chasin, AuD, for the Canadian Academy of Audiology  Reprinted with permission of CAA – click here for PDF download This paper is an overview of the findings in the literature for the subject area of the non-auditory effects due to lower-level environmental noise. Regular reviews have appeared in the literature since the early 1990s (Abel, 1990; Fay, 1991),
Featured image for “What is the best musical instrument for my hard of hearing child?”
Jan. 10, 2022

What is the best musical instrument for my hard of hearing child?

Marshall Chasin
From time to time I am asked about the best musical instrument for someone’s hard of hearing child. It turns out that this is not an easy question. If this was the 1960s, I may have said drums, but that 60-year old answer would be quite simplistic given the advancement of knowledge (and politics) surrounding hearing loss and hearing aid/cochlear
Featured image for “Readers’ Choice 2021: Three distinct programs for music?  So… what does the literature say?”
Dec. 27, 2021

Readers’ Choice 2021: Three distinct programs for music?  So… what does the literature say?

HHTM
Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. Our Readers’ Choices featured this week are the posts
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Dec. 07, 2021

What did Skinner and Miller have to say about hearing aid fittings?

Marshall Chasin
It is rare to have a column about a review of an article, especially an article from almost 40 years ago but Skinner and Miller (1983) is a must-read (or re-read) article.   This describes the work primarily done during Margaret (Margo) Skinner’s PhD thesis. Margo Skinner used a master hearing aid where she was able to increase the high frequency
Featured image for “What did Skinner and Miller have to say about hearing aid fittings?”
Oct. 17, 2021

What did Skinner and Miller have to say about hearing aid fittings?

Marshall Chasin
I recall meeting Margaret (Margo) Skinner at a conference back in the early 1980s and, other than being struck by how nice she was, Margo commented that she had really only published 2 or 3 articles at that time, yet she was already considered a world authority.  Well, that was my view- she would have never considered herself a world
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Sep. 13, 2021

We are now up to 109 dB…

Marshall Chasin
The input-related dynamic range of modern hearing aids (also known as its input “Headroom”) is important to know in order to prevent distortion and input-clipping of louder sounds in the environment.  Typical loud input sounds are music and the level of a hearing aid consumer’s own voice.  Up until recently, the highest-level sound that could be successfully transduced into a
Featured image for “Woodwinds, strings, and brass instruments- GOOD.  Vocalists- BAD”
Aug. 09, 2021

Woodwinds, strings, and brass instruments- GOOD.  Vocalists- BAD

Marshall Chasin
In this time of Covid-19, and going forward into our annual flu seasons, it is important to know a little more about the “spray” coming out of person’s mouth or musical instrument.  There was an interesting article that came out of Bristol in the United Kingdom on this very issue.  The researchers found that less spray was produced by wind
Featured image for “Three distinct programs for music?  So… what does the literature say?”
Jun. 28, 2021

Three distinct programs for music?  So… what does the literature say?

Marshall Chasin
First, I must declare a conflict of interest!  I have a book coming out (hopefully) in the spring of 2022 called “Music and Hearing Aids” (Plural Publishing).  As part of the book a literature review of previous results needed to be performed … and this is what the research says…. Actually, the research was from many sources, over many years,
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Apr. 20, 2021

FAQs from MusiciansClinics.com – part 10

Marshall Chasin
Over the next months, I will be uploading some commonly viewed FAQs from MusiciansClinics.com.  This is the website of the Musicians’ Clinics of Canada, and was completely updated over the last Christmas holidays.  I should have entitled it “What I did over the Christ mas holidays”!  A full range of FAQs will eventually cover pretty much everything we know about