Like many of you, I use my ears every day to make judgments about sound. Out on a service call, I have to try to hear what the customer doesn't like about the organ, or wants changed. On an installation/voicing I make critical decisions about the level of each stop, sometimes note by note, as well as about timbre. I listen to speakers to try to spot defective drivers producing distortion. And at church I listen all the time to adjust my playing as needed, to the choir so I can give meaningful direction, to the worship leaders so I can stay on track.
Now, much like last year, a debilitating ear infection has struck, and at nearly the same time of year. In 2017, I was almost totally deaf when I played the organ and directed the choir on Easter Sunday morning. This year, I sensed a bit of muffling on Easter, though at the time I laid it off on the huge crowd in the room. Then the full blow of it hit me the day after, when I woke up once again nearly deaf, with a loud roaring in my head. Searching through old prescription bottles, I see that I often seem to get sick right around Easter, which really messes with one's hearing and possibly even other senses, including "common" sense!
This time around, thank God, the infection seems to be responding quickly to the Z-Pack, and I've recovered enough that I believe I'll manage to play and sing on Sunday, or at least play. And the biggest day of the year at church came and went without incident, so it could be much worse. But my fear is that it may well be worse next time, and time after that!
So I will make a concerted effort over the next year to try out the various preventatives that friends have been telling me about -- eating raw local honey every day, wearing a mask when working inside old churches (like the one where we repaired the ADC Classic just 10 or 12 days ago), taking certain supplements. I don't know, there are lots of suggestions, few of them scientifically proven. A couple of friends here have had ear tubes inserted, which seems like a last resort, but there is some evidence this really cuts down on ear troubles.
Worries me though to realize how drastically my perception of sound is altered by this. Even today -- with the fever and pain nearly gone, hearing level still below par but definitely on the mend, some tinnitus and roaring still going on -- I just tried practicing the organ and found it quite unsatisfactory. My lovely Allen R-230 sounds as granular and rough as the worst MOS I've ever heard. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that the speaker drivers are all shot, judging by the ragged, crude, buzzy tone in my ears.
Which brings up the question -- can I ever truly trust my ears? I actually remember that near the end of the repair job on the Classic Allen I was starting to hear ugly things that I didn't want to believe were actually coming from that organ. When I said it out loud, my associate, who is 30 years younger and has superb hearing, said he didn't hear any such thing. And perhaps I was "hearing things" that weren't there. When I backed away and listening as he played, I didn't hear any of the annoying artifacts and distortion.
So here's another of the many things we have to consider every day in this business. Can I really believe what I "think" I'm hearing? Or do my ears deceive me? It's especially worrisome during the usual allergy and cold seasons, when we're all prone to having hearing issues. Makes me wonder how good some of my favorite voicing jobs might sound to me if I went back and re-heard them under different conditions and with different hearing.
Now, much like last year, a debilitating ear infection has struck, and at nearly the same time of year. In 2017, I was almost totally deaf when I played the organ and directed the choir on Easter Sunday morning. This year, I sensed a bit of muffling on Easter, though at the time I laid it off on the huge crowd in the room. Then the full blow of it hit me the day after, when I woke up once again nearly deaf, with a loud roaring in my head. Searching through old prescription bottles, I see that I often seem to get sick right around Easter, which really messes with one's hearing and possibly even other senses, including "common" sense!
This time around, thank God, the infection seems to be responding quickly to the Z-Pack, and I've recovered enough that I believe I'll manage to play and sing on Sunday, or at least play. And the biggest day of the year at church came and went without incident, so it could be much worse. But my fear is that it may well be worse next time, and time after that!
So I will make a concerted effort over the next year to try out the various preventatives that friends have been telling me about -- eating raw local honey every day, wearing a mask when working inside old churches (like the one where we repaired the ADC Classic just 10 or 12 days ago), taking certain supplements. I don't know, there are lots of suggestions, few of them scientifically proven. A couple of friends here have had ear tubes inserted, which seems like a last resort, but there is some evidence this really cuts down on ear troubles.
Worries me though to realize how drastically my perception of sound is altered by this. Even today -- with the fever and pain nearly gone, hearing level still below par but definitely on the mend, some tinnitus and roaring still going on -- I just tried practicing the organ and found it quite unsatisfactory. My lovely Allen R-230 sounds as granular and rough as the worst MOS I've ever heard. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that the speaker drivers are all shot, judging by the ragged, crude, buzzy tone in my ears.
Which brings up the question -- can I ever truly trust my ears? I actually remember that near the end of the repair job on the Classic Allen I was starting to hear ugly things that I didn't want to believe were actually coming from that organ. When I said it out loud, my associate, who is 30 years younger and has superb hearing, said he didn't hear any such thing. And perhaps I was "hearing things" that weren't there. When I backed away and listening as he played, I didn't hear any of the annoying artifacts and distortion.
So here's another of the many things we have to consider every day in this business. Can I really believe what I "think" I'm hearing? Or do my ears deceive me? It's especially worrisome during the usual allergy and cold seasons, when we're all prone to having hearing issues. Makes me wonder how good some of my favorite voicing jobs might sound to me if I went back and re-heard them under different conditions and with different hearing.
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