Capra A., Binelli M., Marmiroli D.

Getting older our auditory system looses functionality: the level and the frequency range of the perceived sounds decrease. A large part of people who habitually assist to shows of lyric and classical music has an age older than forty years and it is therefore assumed that these persons have a loss of perception in high frequencies, beyond other typology of auditory disturbances. In most of cases, who has consciousness of his deficiency, wears hearing aids but they are set for a better intelligibility of speech. All these things involve that the largest part of who seats in theatres or in auditoria don’t perceive correctly the sound generated from the performer (singers, orchestra, single musician, etc…). To the aim to find a possible correlation between objective parameters and subjective descriptors, to execute therefore meaningful listening tests, we need to comprehend what perception has the medium customer and take it into account. The first step of our research was the distribution of a questionnaire in Regio Theatre (Parma) and Paganini Auditorium (Parma) to find age, degree, attending and preferences, authority on music. The second step was a listening test on subjects recruited with the mentioned questionnaires. They were performed in “La Casa della Musica” (Parma – Italy), in a listening room with an acoustic treatment, using Stereo Dipole as system of test. The complete test was composed by three part: an audiometric test, a listening test without hearing aids and the same test with hearing aids, set with a correction only in the case of a hearing deficit. Therefore this paper shows the preparation, the development and the results of this particular session of listening tests.