Hear The Music

I just returned from an Alaskan cruise.  Much to my disappointment there was no penguin fishing and I never did see an Atlantic salmon, but other than these two let-downs, it was a great trip.  We visited Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan.  “Ketchikan” is a Northwest First Nation word meaning “many-jewellery-shops-for-tourists-near-the-cruise-terminal”. It occurred to me during the trip when I was

In parts 1 and 2 of this blog, issues of stimulus level and inherent variability were discussed.  Variability and measurement error were found to be more of an issue of approach, and had nothing to do with whether the assessment was performed at a level that is characteristic of music, or industrial noise.   15 or the vast majority of industrial

Internal machinery noise levels are probably one of the most ignored aspects of any testing paradigm.  In the most-simplest of cases- sound field audiometry- internal noise is governed by the environmental noise level in the audiometric test booth.  For very low frequency sounds, the audiometric test booth attenuation ability is quite limited.  One would need a wall diameter in excess

Musicians’ earplugs, also known as the ER-15, have been available since 1988.  These were based on a patent by Elmer Carlson  of Knowles Electronics in the 1970s. When Mead Killion left Knowles to start his own company, Etymotic Research , he licensed from Knowles, and later developed this product.  To date, over one and a half million pairs have been sold

Charles Mokotoff is an audiologist’s worst nightmare and an audiologist’s greatest teacher.  Charles is a hard-of-hearing musician who is as at home with computers as he is with his six-stringed classical guitar.  The points that Charles makes with respect to changes in fitting algorithms and to speed up technology so that modern hearing aids can take advantage of apps have

For this two part blog entry, I have asked Charles Mokotoff to chime in.   Charles holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in guitar performance from Syracuse University and Ithaca College, respectively. He has served on the faculties of numerous colleges and universities in New York and the New England area as a lecturer in classical guitar and lute. Prior to settling

… 1.414 and 1.059… Part 2 of this blog is about 1.059 We saw (in part 1) that 1.414 and 1.059 are approximations of irrational numbers like π, and, like π, are both quite important. If you haven’t guessed, this is about geometric means (and arithmetic means), which are important for both the audiogram and for the calculation of the frequency of

You guessed it!  … 1.414 and 1.059… These are both irrational numbers like π, and like π are both quite important. I recall my mother telling me bedtime stories about 1.414 and 1.059, although 1.059 understandably would cause nightmares. If you haven’t guessed, this is about geometric means (and arithmetic means), and this is important for both the audiogram and

In previous portions of this five-part series, we discussed the acoustics of musical instruments and in most cases we saw these same general acoustic principles applied to the realm of hearing aids and speech acoustics. This week, I would like to turn to the performance venue and how the lowly pinna effect can be of assistance. Close your eyes and

  In the previous parts of this 5-part blog, we discussed quarter, half wavelength resonators, and impedance and damping. In this part, we will describe why some musical instruments have a flare or horn. The formal name of this acoustic principle is called the acoustic transformer effect, but many just call it the “horn effect”. The horn not only makes