hearing fatigue.

[noambenhamou]

Does anyone experience hearing fatigue after playing or working on a piano for a long time?
I was jet skiing the other day, and went back home to play the piano, and the sound was horrible, and everything was hurting my ears. Tried to watch a movie, and every action scene seemed too loud.
Also after I play the piano for a while, or usually at by the end of the day around 5-7pm my ears seem to get tired by all the noise throughout the day, I can barely sit and play the piano. The sound bothers me, and it seems way way too loud. Even when I try to play ppp it just rings in my ear.

Also, right after I wake up, I experience the same issues. Really the only time my ears can handle the piano is usually 1 hour after I wake up and up to 7pm.

Not only is it loud, but the piano also sounds HORRIBLE when my ear feel strained and tired.

Does anyone else experience this? Is it common?

[keyboardclass]

I feel your pain!  Basically your nerves are shot.

[sordel]

Not only is it loud, but the piano also sounds HORRIBLE when my ear feel strained and tired.

Does anyone else experience this? Is it common?

It depends on whether the pain is in your ears or your brain. If it's in your ears, be very careful that you are not damaging your hearing through prolonged listening at high levels.

Listening fatigue, as I understand it, is diminished pleasure that comes from too much concentration on sound. I get that on headphones if I spend more than a few hours trying to concentrate on music. I think it's just a matter of getting tired.

[pianowolfi]

Does anyone experience hearing fatigue after playing or working on a piano for a long time?
I was jet skiing the other day, and went back home to play the piano, and the sound was horrible, and everything was hurting my ears. Tried to watch a movie, and every action scene seemed too loud.
Also after I play the piano for a while, or usually at by the end of the day around 5-7pm my ears seem to get tired by all the noise throughout the day, I can barely sit and play the piano. The sound bothers me, and it seems way way too loud. Even when I try to play ppp it just rings in my ear.

Also, right after I wake up, I experience the same issues. Really the only time my ears can handle the piano is usually 1 hour after I wake up and up to 7pm.

Not only is it loud, but the piano also sounds HORRIBLE when my ear feel strained and tired.

Does anyone else experience this? Is it common?

It seems like you might need silence, absolute silence, as long as you feel it is good for you, and then restart your musical endeavours from there. I know that situation quite well.

[ionian_tinnear]

I was jet skiing the other day, and went back home to play the piano..

Do you wear ear-protection?  I used to ride motorcycles, on and off-road, a lot.  When I forgot the earplugs, everything sounded a bit off..

Unless you're Beethoven, protect your hearing.

[keys60]

I can get fatiqued if I do a few pianos in a day. I don't tune full time, but I know a few full timers that where ear plugs when they tune. They've been doing it for so many years that they can hear the beats even with the protection. Then they will test the piano without the plugs. I personally can't do that yet, if ever. If your experiencing pain or a ringing, you should wear hearing protection when participating in noisy activities AND long practice sessions.

[gvans]

Interesting thread. One year ago, I built an eight by ten foot music studio, put in acoustic foam, a large rug, and a 5'10" Schimmel grand, with a beautiful if somewhat brilliant tone. My violinist and I practice there regularly (he plays in a powerful, muscular manner). Recently a friend who plays viola de gamba wanted a "tour" of the studio, and I played a Liszt etude for him. He made me stop halfway through, complaining the sound was excruciatingly loud.

Since then, I've kept the lid down, but I wonder if I might be doing myself a certain amount of aural damage. My wife has always thought my living room grand (a Steinway M) is too loud. Yikes. Should I wear ear plugs when I'm practicing? Should I adjust my dynamic range from pp to mf and leave the ff for concerts? Maybe I should just play Debussy and no more Beethoven or Brahms.

Does anyone out there really practice on a regular basis with ear plugs? How can you then hear nuances of tone, emotion, and dynamics? Are there any ENT docs out there who have witnessed ear damage in pianists? What caused Beethoven's deafness, anyway?




   

[lhommearme]

    I only get fatigue when tunnig for a few hours straight. The brain is done wanting to think after that.Never had it from playing normaly. Get a bit tired when working with a consort of various instruments,but I blame that partly on having to deal with other people and stress of geting it all down.Never when practicing or composing.