No matter what I do I have a problem with the fitting of earbuds. Also, I prefer to have one ear open, with just one earphoned.
Are there any earphones available which are small and just cover one ear?

I have tried using the earphones adjusted off the ears a little, and this works pretty well, but it's hard to keep them in one place for long.

Thanks, Paul

I'll defer to Bill on this one...

Sometimes I use one IEM bud, sometimes I use a lightweight pair of Walkman style headphones that you can hear around.



Would that work for you? These stay in place very well and are very light weight.

Probably would be fine; I'll try to pick up a pair from a Target or Walmart.

I use to do this until Bill noted how dangerous this is. At first I was skeptical until I checked with the custom IEM folks. Bill is 100% correct - one of the easier ways to damage your hearing is one-ear IEM.

Bill has an excellent thread on this, but I can't locate it. Can anyone direct us to that thread? Bill was "right on" on the danger of hearing loss from wearing only one IEM.

Bill mentioned this (and others brought supporting evidence via links and quotes) in the Compressors on Keyboards? thread.

The guy I used to tour with is effectively deaf from using one in-ear monitor for most of his 18 year career.

Thanks. Good info, I missed this the first time around.

I never thought of it until I saw the first thread, but it makes perfect sense. Kind of like a duh moment, 'of course you would need to make it louder.

I just bought some new IEM's and a spare beltpack for my system (Shure PSM200). While perusing their web site, I discovered THIS.

The beltpacks receive wireless from the transmitter AND will accept a wired input that apparently can be used simultaneously. They have an ambient lavalier mic that you can plug into your belt pack and mix the ambient level with your mix.

I'd rather not get ambience - I get all the bleed I want through the vocal mics. But I always thought it'd be handy to have something I could temporarily turn on to hear somebody from the crowd talking to me without having to pull one ear out and shove it back in. Might solve your problem.

What Bill said is really important. I have done a slightly modified version; I believe it is safe....
What I have done is to unplug one ear and put a piece of napkin or equal in it. This allows me to hear the others in that ear, and myself in the other, without increasing volume.

I have found that Starbucks napkins work best; they are tough and also are pretty much flesh colored, so nobody sees it. No, I don't jam it in my ear too hard or far.

They make earplugs that you can get a rated amount of attenuation - so that you can still hear, they just attenuate a certain amount. And they pass a wider frequency response. Sound guys often wear these so they can hear to run sound but not ruin their ears. If you're going to do that, I'd recommend something like the earplug instead of a napkin. I still think it'd be better to run 2 IEM's along with an ambient mic like I Posted.

Thanks; I didn't know about that type of earplug.

I do think the theory of one hot earphone with one attenuated earplug would be a good balance between ear protection and balanced sound.


Paul

Slightly OT:

Tonight I had band practice. Before practice, the bass player rearrange the layout. A few songs into the night I realize that my left ear is right in line (and too close to) one of the PA speakers. I try to move more off axis, but I give up and play the rest of the night with ear plugs in.

That got me thinking about Bill's theory about the dangers of using one IEM and wondering if the same hold true in reverse.

Let's say I decided to only wear one ear plug (the left side facing the speaker). Would that be dangerous to my hearing?

Please read the original thread, and follow up with a discussion with the manufacturer on this topic. You guys are really out in left field. UNDERSTAND the issues and the implications before you make modifications, and consider these modifications carefully. Because there is no coming back from hearing loss. And one of the saddest things that I have experienced was watching the last years of my wifes fathers life spent in virtual isolation because he could not hear what people were saying, and the hearing aid people never seemed to be able to get his system properly adjusted. I could see the sadness and disappointment on his face when he wasn't hearing what people were saying, and I could see him retreating further and further into loneliness. It was heartbreaking.

Yes.

Please read the original thread, and follow up with a discussion with the manufacturer on this topic. You guys are really out in left field. UNDERSTAND the issues and the implications before you make modifications, and consider these modifications carefully. Because there is no coming back from hearing loss. And one of the saddest things that I have experienced was watching the last years of my wifes fathers life spent in virtual isolation because he could not hear what people were saying, and the hearing aid people never seemed to be able to get his system properly adjusted. I could see the sadness and disappointment on his face when he wasn't hearing what people were saying, and I could see him retreating further and further into loneliness. It was heartbreaking.

Ok. Understand that I was not planning on using just one ear plug, I was just trying to understand the concept better. Actually I told the bass player that I won't practice again without changing the layout. Besides the concern about my ears, if I don't have a decent mix, I feel disconnected from the band and my performance suffers.

Let me rephrase the theory you are trying to convey and tell me if I understand it correctly.

In order for your brain to accurately perceive sound levels, both ears have to be exposes to roughly equal levels. If one ear is getting vastly different sound levels then you will perceive the overall sound much lower than it actually is. Therefore you are suppressing your natural defense mechanism against ear damage. You brain won't tell you "hey...the sound is too loud...I know this because my ears hurt".

I've seen the same thing with my father. When my dad was in the navy, he fell overboard during a storm. He spent 24 hours adrift in the cold water before he was rescued. during recovery he developed a really bad ear infection that damaged his ears. It has always been a problem, but it has gotten progressively worse over the years. He's 78 now, and if you want to engage him in conversation, you have to be sure you are facing him. He needs to be able to read lips to supplement the distorted sounds that he hears in order to comprehend. If there is a gathering and there are multiple people talking, that becomes impossible and he'll retreat and read a book.

I sent a piano tuner over to their house once to tune their piano. Afterwards my father told me the tuner did a terrible job and there are keys that don't even work. I went over to check out the piano. It turns out all the keys worked. It was just that my father couldn't hear any notes higher than two octaves above middle C.

"I've seen the same thing with my father...."

It is just brutal to experience second hand, I've no desire to be having that experience in the first-person. Yet we are so cavalier about levels, it is really scary.

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