>Ted Otto wrote:
>
>The term "insistent" to describe h'chd sound puzzled me until I mentioned it
>to my wife who fully confirmed the characterization and added "penetrating
>and irritating," especially when compared to piano tones.  Well, duh...piano
>tones are mostly dull fundamental, while h'chd tones are rich in higher
>pitched overtones, many of them dissonant to the fundamental. All this has
>to do with differences between the instruments in framing, stringing, and
>plucking vs. hammering.  It probably also has to do with her request that I
>close the door while playing.

It was well known back in the '40s, I think, that women are more 
sensitive to high frequencies, and that women are more likely than 
men to retain their high frequency hearing as they age.  That was 
certainly born out as my mom and dad aged.  How things have changed 
with the generations that have grown up first with rock concerts and 
then with headphones and earbuds I don't know.

John


-- 
John R. Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411  Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[log in to unmask])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html