by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man explained:
I have felt very fortunate during my 81 years in having the ability to play the piano “by ear.” Recently, I found that the notes starting with the “F” in the octave above the middle “C” octave sounded bad enough to me to cause me to stop enjoying the playing. Having the piano tuned produced minimum improvement as did removing my hearing aids, so it must be my hearing. Do you have any comments or is there any information that might explain or improve this situation?
Playing music by ear is not something I could ever do because of my hearing loss—nor could my late mother (hard of hearing all her life also—but who still taught piano to a few students. Nor can my hard of hearing daughter play by ear. However, my other daughter with normal hearing seems to effortlessly play by ear. It’s just not fair, is it? I’m not surprised that you are having trouble hearing the higher notes on the piano, or that they now sound distorted to you.
Typically, hearing loss begins in the very high frequencies and works its way down the scale. Thus, as a rule, you hear the lower-frequency notes just fine, but as your hearing deteriorates, somewhere on the right side of keyboard an octave or more above middle C you find that the notes just don’t sound the same any more.
My first suggestion is to go to an audiologist and get your hearing checked. Then have your audiologist determine whether your current hearing aids are giving you the needed amplification in the frequencies you are having difficulty hearing properly. It may be that all you need is to have your hearing aids re-adjusted for your current hearing loss. If your old hearing aids aren’t strong enough now, you may need new, more powerful hearing aids.
However, if your hearing is basically now non-existent in the high frequencies, amplifying sounds you can’t hear won’t help you (and will just cause your hearing aids to squeal—which you won’t hear either). If this is the case, there isn’t much you can do, except to transpose the pieces you like to a lower key where you still hear reasonably well. It’s one of the “joys” of having a hearing loss.
You certainly are not alone. Others have similar problems. For example, my wife hears different keys in each ear so doesn’t know which ear to pitch her voice to.
Since I wrote the above, I’ve found one drug can cause things to be sound lower in pitch than then really are. That drug is Carbamazepine (Tegretol). Several people have reported hearing sounds a semitone low. You can read about their experiences in my article “Carbamazepine and Lowered Pitch Perception“.
Another drug that messes up your pitch perception is the beta blocker Propranolol (Inderal). See my article, “Propranolol and Distorted Pitch Perception“.
You can also read more on this topic in my article “When You Hear Music in the Wrong Key” and the comments below it.
With all due respect, the question refered to distortion or “bad sound” , not the loss of hearing in that octave. I played in a rock band and after an hour my hearing would distort like a cheap transister radio circa 1964. any ideas?? expensive musician’s earplugs didnt work either. ??? Have switched to acoustic guitar shows as a result…
Hi Al:
When your hearing distorted after playing in your Rock Band, you were suffering from a temporary shift–which means you had a temporary hearing loss to some degree. Thus sounds to you seemed to be distorted even though you were not aware of the hearing loss.
However, you could have distorted hearing and no hearing loss, but it is not as common. Typically it is caused by exposing your ears to loud noise.
I also have a bad hearing only one side since i was young. 8 years ago when i checked, my one side was still in average but really low average. i can hear lower frequency well, but sounds echoing. it’s getting bad for over years.
hi, everybory¡ i have saw yours coments. i just write ’cause i loss the triton le pianos sound and i don’t know what to do. can you help me? thanks.
I can relate to this. My younger brother had some minor ear damage due to a car accident he was involved in 5 years ago. When his airbag went off, for some reason it effected his hearing. He doesn’t have total hearing loss, but is frustrated since he has all but completely lost the ability to enjoy higher frequency notes in a piece of music. He can still play @ optimum efficiency, but now he wears an aid in his right hear to help decipher the high-end of the piano. Seeing an audiologist is one of the best things one can do even if the damage is mere hours old (ex: Tinitus). One can never be too sure of such situations. They all must be taken seriously. If one’s life is dependent on hearing, they better get over and get it checked out ASAP.
I was in a car accident two months ago and immediately noticed that my hearing was affected. I am an organist and the instrument’s sound is so distorted I cannot even recognize familiar pieces. On the piano, I find some notes sound flat and others don’t. I have lost some hearing due to the accident and have gotten a hearing aid for one ear. I have a rupture in the other ear which seems to be healing. I feel that a part of who I am is gone. Is there anything I can do to help?
I’m experiencing the same thing – hearing some notes quarter pitch off. I had Otitis at some point but i’m not sure it’s related.
But having dealt with that i want to try a detox program for a month…
I had my piano tuned just before the Covid pandemic and we were staying home. I called the tuner and ask him to come back and tune the piano but what he said was “it’s not out of tune”. I have an electronic piano also so I played the same notes and they sounded off also. I was convinced it is my hearing. It is two octaves above middle C beginning on F, G , A and B. Drives me crazy. It is taking away my joy for playing Playing the piano since I put hardwood flooring in has also caused the sounds to hurt my ears so i wear ear plugs. I am wondering if putting a plush carpet and some drapes on the windows will help to absorb some of this sound and make it more pleasant for my playing. Any suggests? I also wear hearing aides but cannot stand them when i play.
Hi Peggy:
Before looking at what you can do to make your room more “ear friendly”, I think you need to look at why you are hearing the high-frequency notes “off”
Normal, everyday sounds shouldn’t hurt your ears. When you perceive them so loud that they hurt, you likely have loudness hyperacusis. This can be more pronounced in the higher frequencies like you are experiencing.
How long have you been noticing this distortion of sound–probably before you had the hardwood floor installed. Normally, loudness hyperacusis is a result of exposing your ears to a “too-loud” sound. It could be the sudden blast from a trucks’ air horn if you are too close when it went off, for example. That could be all that it takes. Or it could result from listening to loud music (rock concert) for too long. It could also result from taking certain medications.
Wearing ear plugs is not the answer, and in fact, can make the situation worse if you are not careful.
Why can’t you stand wearing your hearing aids when playing? What is the exact problem? Often, they need to be adjusted properly for such situations.
First, you probably need a “music program” in your hearing aids. This is because when you hold a note, your hearing aids think sound is feeding back and the anti-feedback circuitry kicks in and tries to squelch it. Makes music sound terrible. Happens with me too. The solution is to have one memory programmed for “music” where the anti-feedback is turned off so it won’t squelch held notes. Another thing is to have the music program programmed linearly, with the compression turned off. Normally, you need compression to hear speech the best, but this messes up how you hear music. So just those two things can make a lot of difference to how you hear/experience/enjoy music. That could be one reason you don’t like your hearing aids when playing.
But that is not all. When you have a hearing loss–typically high frequency loss–and hyperacusis, your hearing aids have to be carefully programmed by frequency so that no sound ever exceeds the top of your dynamic range. Any sound louder than the top of your dynamic range can hurt because you perceive it as much too loud.
Few hearing aids are programmed correctly for people that have loudness hyperacusis because the settings to control your hyperacusis are not the ones you need to optimal hearing–so audiologists often just program for optimal hearing, NOT for your hyperacusis. The result is that you rip your aids off when sounds begin to hurt.
And finally, when you have a high-frequency hearing loss, the higher octaves can sound distorted and not pleasant. Hearing aids IF they are programmed correctly for you specific hearing situation can largely eliminate that. If they are not programmed correctly for your ears, just make matters worse.
Add to this recruitment, where sounds get too loud too fast, which is a byproduct of hearing loss, so you have it too, just compounds the problem.
I understand a lot of what you are experiencing as I too experience this because of my rare reverse–slope hearing loss. For me, the volume can change dramatically between adjacent keys, particularly in the high C octave.
Your first efforts should be to get your hearing aids programmed properly for you hearing situations. Once that is done, if you still have problems, then a carpet and drapes to help deaden the sharp sounds probably is a good idea.
Cordially,
Neil