Hear The Music

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

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

Last week, a C, an E-flat, and a G walked into a bar. The bartender said, “Get out of here; we don’t serve minors here.” If you got that joke and found it really funny, then you are a musician, or at least passed your grade 2 theory exams.  If you didn’t find it funny then you either have a

Music brings audiologists and engineers together… Actually, music brings all people together, but that’s another blog.  In my travels I attend many national and international audiology conferences and the topic of music and hearing aids is a great opening line. (That’s how I met my fiancée, but that’s another blog as well). The engineers that are associated with the hearing

When it comes to listening to music through hearing aids, it is not a “complex and amorphous” task.  There are well-defined requirements for a music program and there are well-defined hardware technologies that a hearing aid must have.  These have been reviewed in previous blogs and can be found throughout the literature. The frustrating thing is that Mead Killion had

There are many unresolved questions and issues when it comes to the subject area of hearing and music.  We actually know very little about how music is processed in the brain, and really are only scratching the surface of this area.  Nevertheless, not to be stymied by the lack of knowledge in our field, I will at least attempt to

So what do music and Felix Baumgartner have in common?  Both are concerned with the speed of sound. I just returned home from giving some talks in Zurich, Switzerland, and if you have never been to Zurich, I can tell you it is an amazingly beautiful place.  The old town is full of buildings from the 16th century, and as

This week’s blog is guest written by Rachel Arntson, who is a Speech-Language Pathologist.  I actually initially trained as a Speech-Language Pathologist, but I could never learn to say it properly, so I went into Audiology.  Also, I also could never remember whether “language” was spelled as language or langauge… As it turns out, Rachel will be giving a talk

Equality is an apple pie, motherhood-type word.  Everyone believes in equality but there is a shadowy underside to that word.  I could have titled this blog, “I don’t believe in equality for those who are disabled” as well, but this blog is about music and musicians. Equality is the concept that all people are the same and should be treated

Over the last month or so I have been receiving emails (and the occasional phone call, and even one fax… remember those?) about a recent post on my blog about what music can tell us about speech.  Given some of the questions I feel that it’s worth-while clarifying my statements.  Also, I have written an article about this issue that