Hear The Music

Eddie Villchur passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday eve (Oct. 16, 2011).  Many may know that Eddie is the father of multi-band compression- something found in almost all modern hearing aids.  What you may not know is that Eddie was also the inventor of the modern day loudspeaker.  I have had the opportunity of spending some time with

I am always amazed by how little amplification is required for listening to music.  My typical suggestion is that most people with a mild to moderate hearing loss should simply remove their hearing aids as they provide little or no gain for the more intense components of music.  And as a general rule, when listening to, or playing live music,

From time to time I am asked to travel somewhere that wants to set up a musicians’ clinic for hearing loss prevention.  Talks and hands-on workshops are typically given and then in the middle of the night, I slip away to parts unknown…. well, maybe its not so romantic, and usually I end up at an airport waiting to take

  Instrument Auditory danger Hearing Protection Reed woodwinds Brass section to rear ER-15 Flutes Flutes ER-15 Violin/viola Violin/viola ER-15 Cello/bass Brass section to rear ER-15 Brass Other brass/horns ER-15 vented Percussion Percussion/ high hats ER-25 Amplified instruments Speaker/monitors/drums ER-15 I made up this chart about 20 years ago and it has been copied (and sometimes modified) over the years.  

Almost every audiophile I have ever met wanted to design their own studio for either listening to, or recording music.  Assuming that you have the appropriate equipment such as correct microphone(s) and audio to digital interface, you are “almost” ready to go.  An audio to digital interface takes many forms but is essentially an external component that replaces the function

“Older musicians experience less age-related decline in hearing abilities than non-musicians” is the reported finding of a newly published study that will come out in the next issue of Psychology and Aging.  This study was part of Ben Zendel’s PhD study the University of Toronto, just down the street from my clinic. Ben wanted to find out whether musicians and

From time to time, I receive telephone calls and emails from the parents of hard of hearing children asking about which musical instrument their children should play.  Actually I receive this type of communication almost weekly! This is really two questions in one- (1) which is the best instrument that would allow them to play, monitor, and gain some proficiency

I received this recent reply to my “The -6 dB rule” blog entry and thought that I would reply in some semi-specific terms… Comment: I’m a musician (flutist), about to purchase a new set of hearing aids.  I’ve read several articles by Dr. Chasin and others that tell me that hearing aids are made for speech, not music, and that

This is from an August 14, 2011 article written by Mike Kepka of the San Francisco Chronicle in his column “The City Exposed”…. Dr. Ephraim Engleman takes out the hearing aid in his left ear. He slides his bow down the thickest string of his beloved violin. A faint smile moves over his face as his eyes dance over the

When fitting hearing aids with music in mind, one has to have music in mind. Of the many differences between speech as an input to a hearing aid, and music as an input to a hearing aid, is the crest factor.  Assuming that you have selected the hearing aid appropriately in order to ensure that overly intense music does not