Hear The Music

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Mar. 04, 2024

Music and Stress

Marshall Chasin
For those of us who are old enough to remember the 1960s, newspaper articles were abound with headlines such as “Stress is the big killer”.  At that time, scientists were referring to the deleterious effects of stress on the heart, liver, and kidneys, but over time we have come to learn about the more “subtle” effects of stress on our
Featured image for “A quick test for cochlear dead regions in those with a unilateral sensori-neural hearing loss”
Dec. 04, 2023

A quick test for cochlear dead regions in those with a unilateral sensori-neural hearing loss

Marshall Chasin
There are now a number of “hearing tests” that can be performed in the quiet of one’s own home.  These are predominantly threshold-based tests and are typically limited by the environmental condition of the test room or by the asymmetry of unmatched earphones or loudspeakers that are commonly used by the public. One Minute Quick Test The following is a
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
Featured image for “What did Skinner and Miller have to say about hearing aid fittings?”
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