PNW Chair Dan Mortensen opened the meeting with business and had attendees introduce themselves. Then PNW Treasurer and meeting organizer Dave Franzwa introduced Dr. Mercer. She earned her Doctorate degree in Audiology from the Arizona School of Health Sciences. Dr. Mercer has practiced audiology since 1987, and currently operates her own private practice at Northgate Hearing Services in Seattle's Northgate area. She is a member of the Academy of Dispensing Audiologists, the American Speech Language and Hearing Association, the Washington Society of Audiology, and the Washington Audiology Alliance.

Dr. Mercer began with some observations about audiology - a bit of a mixture of science and art, and how hearing can be so important for human relationships. You don't hear, you tend to have trouble communicating and relating to the people around you.

Guided by the omnipresent Powerpoint, we launched into the anatomy of the ear - the outer, middle and inner ear components, and their basic operation of converting sound into hearing.

Next came hearing losses: the treatable "conductive" losses accounting for about 5% of cases, and the "sensorineural" losses in the inner ear that hearing aids usually help, accounting for about 95% of cases. We were reminded by a cartoon that it is not necessary to routinely clean the ear canals, and especially not to use cotton swabs. They are good for tape heads, though. Dramatic pictures of normal and damaged cochlea with missing hair cells were shown.

Some discussion ensued about the use of loud personal earphone devices, age and hearing loss and audio compression. Tinnitus (any ear/head noises) was discussed, and factors contributing to, and symptoms of hearing loss.

A break was held for refreshments and a door prize drawing. Winners were:

• Mackie mug (provided by Loud Technologies/Dave Franzwa): Nancy Eby
• Earplugs (provided by BS Studios/Bob Smith): Steve Aguilar, Dave Tosti-Lane, Ivan Schwartz, Ray Miller, Jeff Tyrill, Charles Van Winkle
• Shure Tee shirts (provided by Dansound/Dan Mortensen): Colin Isler, Mark Rogers
• "Weed" file sharing Tee shirt (provided by Ars Divina Studio/Steve Turnidge): boB Gudgel
• Mackie Holiday Turkey Baster (provided by Loud Technologies/Dave Franzwa): Jayney Wallick
• Epson R200 printer (provided by Opus 4 Studios/Mike Matesky): Dan Hoory
• Certificate for one pair custom molded earplugs (provided by Northgate Hearing Services/Dr. Lori Mercer): Paul Colvin

Hearing testing was demonstrated with graphs showing different losses, and audio was played with filters to demonstrate what the losses sounded like.

Hearing protection reviewed the sound level charts and OSHA (U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards for exposure. TTS (temporary threshold shift) from noise exposure is a temporary hearing loss that usually "heals", but for which no organic cause can be found. It may be indicative of a risk of permanent damage, though. Many different types of hearing protection were reviewed, especially the "musician's earplugs." Finally, tips for keeping your hearing included staying healthy, not smoking, cautious use of possibly ototoxic medications, and limiting loud noise exposure.

She closed with a quote from famed American Helen Keller (1880-1968), "When you lose your eyesight, you lose contact with things. When you lose your hearing, you lose contact with people."