Posted by Jack on January 30, 2000 at 23:58:12:
In Reply to: Polish Pitch Corrector posted by Percy on January 30, 2000 at 03:16:50:
I discovered the same thing by accident as a timpanist, and I came to rely on a finger in my ear as the best way to get the correct pitch into my brain.
I got some literature the other day from Etymotic Research (the earplug people). They had this long article about hearing loss, and they indirectly confirmed what you and I discovered ourselves. "...if your job involves sound, you might find that you can no longer hear certain midrange sounds very well. Maybe a particular singer or instrument seems to be flatter than in the past? Does the keyboard need to be constantly retuned because it's tones seem to be shifting around all by themselves? This spotty hearing is called noise-induced hearing loss...." etc etc.
So, maybe if you can block out the outside noise (with a finger/earplug) and hear yourself better, then you might be able to get around the hearing loss/pitch loss connection?
OR, I could be way out in left field... Either way though, the stuffed ear trick definitely works.