Subject: From: "Ward R. Drennan" <wdrennan(at)KHRI3.KHRI.MED.UMICH.EDU> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 11:18:49 -0400Adding to Eckard Blumshein's comments: Musicians ear plugs attenuate the airborne sound with only a marginal effect on the spectrum. However, the ratio of energy of 'bone' conduction to air conduction becomes much greater, substantially aletering the quality of the perceived sound. The magnitude of the effect would depend on the amount of bone conduction for any given instrument. Additionally, the ratio of energy of one's own sound to the energy of sound from fellow muscians also becomes substantially greater because of 'bone' conduction--- a musically undesirable situation. Hearing 'beats' for intonation could be a problem because of the mismatched intensities. It could also be a problem for ensemble balance. I have found musician plugs useful for particularly loud pieces in rehearsal. However, I believe this should be a musician's option and they should only be used on occasion to the extent that they do not have a substantial effect on artistic quality. Requiring their use would be a mistake. Ward Drennan > Roland, > > Singers with plugged ears are also strongly affected from imbalance > between airbone sound and so called bone conduction. Perhaps, the > latter is mainly conducted to the inner ear from CSF via cochlear and > vestibular aqueducts. > > Eckard > http://iesk.et.uni-magdeburg.de/~blumsche/AuditoryFunction.html Ward Drennan, Ph. D. Kresge Hearing Research Institute Phone: (734) 763-5159 Fax: (734) 764-0014