Didn’t he say it sounds that way even without his hearing aids?
Idk if he did, but if even if so, could his audi set up an eq’d program?
How flexible are widex in allowing a parametric eq fitting?
I’m just speculating here (hear), as I’m no qualified audio pro.
They can’t pitch shift though.
Too bad, but thanks.
Far out thought:
my mind is playing tricks. I thought of microphone piano >peq>amp>headphones?
Probably not!
I think that retuning your piano will introduce other undesirable effects. Physics is still the same, even though your ears and brain tell you otherwise. Some of the things that make a piano sound like a piano have to do with sympathetic resonance and other harmonic relationship characteristics of the physical instrument. It might be an interesting exercise to see which is more desirable, but then you may find your perceived pitch shift is more complicated than you might initially think, dependent on things like volume, or whether the note is a single note or part of a more complex musical structure.
I’d be really interested to hear if you try this at some point. If you do, try to get an idea of what a more normally hearing person thinks of the sound.
Good luck!
Hello again. Update.
My audiologist didn’t offer much comfort: she ran the standard hearing test on me once again which merely showed that my high-frequency hearing is down a bit - but not far enough down to put me in the ‘profoundly deaf’ bracket. She made some minor tweaks to my aids, but explained that what I’m asking for is beyond present technology - which is more or less what you guys have been telling me anyway!
De-tuning my piano? Yes I’m aware of the risks and downsides in that: I’ve done a bit of tuning myself in the past, I’m familiar with piano acoustics, and I know how important the ‘stretch’ is - especially in its function of eliminating unpleasant beats between the partials.
What I might do is call the same tuner back again, some time this autumn (assuming I haven’t gone all Beethoven by then!). Point being, on his last visit he told me the high notes were all flat - because the previous tuner had been an older man whose high-frequency hearing was a bit off (like mine).
I’d put it to him, could he reduce the stretch just a little in the high notes? Maybe just in the range 20-50 cents (1/5 to 1/2 of a semitone). That wouldn’t solve my problem but it would perhaps make it less obtrusive. And although I find beating in the low notes unpleasant (yes I can still hear it), in the high notes I could tolerate some beats.
Thanks all, for the replies anyway.
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You can do this pitch adjustment with some synthesizers note-by-note. They often call it fractional tuning, but there may be other terms. I think Yamaha has done it quite often, but other brands too. You could have a synth with decent piano sounds and experiment with your tuning technique for a few hundred dollars if you buy a used synth.
This might be off-topic, but look-up Dysacusis:
Dysacusis is a hearing impairment characterized by difficulty in processing details of sound due to distortion in frequency or intensity rather than primarily a loss of the ability to perceive sound.[1] The term is sometimes used to describe pain or discomfort due to sound, a condition also known as auditory dysaesthesia.
Is similar to when music or speech is played thru a loudspeaker and the speaker makes nasty sounds not related to the music. Mostly during the louder parts or at just some frequencies.
Just found this forum after googling hearing music out of tune.
I can certainly relate. I recently bought a digital piano as I didn’t want to disturb neighbours working from home playing piano. I spent ages reading the manual thinking I must have somehow changed the tuning as some higher octaves sounded out of tune. I also play recorders and have just found using an electronic tuner that to get an octave to sound right to me I need to play A - upper Bflat on the treble recorder. My electronic tuner assures me that both my As are in tune. So I hear this octave as flat when played correctly.
It’s spoiling my enjoyment playing alone. In a larger group it’s not as bad as I’m not focussing so much on hearing myself. In fact for my enjoyment I turn my aids down quite low otherwise all music sounds distorted but especially high notes.
I was hoping that this was more a hearing aid issue but when playing alone without my aids in the problem is still there.
I see an ENT consultant next week about dizziness and tinnitus. Not sure they will be interested in how I hear music though? My NHS audiologist said the service can really only afford to help people hear speech. She did agree to try one more intervention but that means going back to ear moulds and I found those very difficult to wear years ago so am not keen.
Apologies if I’m hijacking this thread but am so pleased to see I’m not the only one with this problem and would also love a solution.
Thanks.
Does the same thing happen with other types of musical instruments?
How about bells?
This issue of hearing a single tone as having a different frequency in one ear from the other is well known. It is called diplacusis and is caused by damage to one or both cochlears meaning that they return different information to your brain from the same stimulus (the single tone). You might be able to train your brain to ignore it, but it’s likely not going to actually go away. And there’s no adjustment you can make to the hearing aids to deal with it.
I don’t have access to any bells , I’m afraid. It happens when playing treble and descant recorders and digital piano. I’m not sure if it applies to all notes. I’d gave to check some more. I could get my violin out but I haven’t played that for decades!
Whenever I’ve googled my problem I’ve come across diplacusis a lot but I don’t think it applies in my case as I don’t notice a difference between ears. I’m deaf in both ears.
Nevertheless it probably is diplacusis that is making some frequencies sound flat or sharp.
I’m really sorry you have this. I’ve experienced this on a short temporary basis, a few times per year and can’t imagine it all the time. With me however, I think it happens with fluid because it’s usually accompanied by an under water sound. When it does happen, I can’t touch my guitar or listen to any type of music due to the off-pitch of many notes.
I’m 60 and I have a hard enough time with very loud 24/7 365 high pitch tinnitus my whole adult life. My tinnitus was caused from the military as a Navy gunner and drives me crazy, but I think constant off-pitch would be worse.