Hearing Protection

[Kris]

Hello,

 

As a musician I am subjected to loud music for long periods of time...

 

But as an engineer I am extremely concerned about damaging me ears.

 

My problem is that when I use earplugs at a show, I am not hearing the tone and dynamics that I feel I need to hear for me to play and sing my best.

 

I have the perscription musicians earplugs, and even with just a 9db reduction filter, I still don't like it.

 

Any suggestions, words of advice, or doctors orders???

[Bart]

At least you know what you are not hearing. As hearing loss continues, you don't know what you are missing, because you are slowly toasting your ears and you slowly lose the ability hear certain frequencies with clarity. Not worth it, IMO because you never get it back.

 

I have been gigging on a regular basis for the past five years. This past Monday, I finally went to an ENT (ear nose & throat) doctor. Littered with guilt, I was prepared to come to the terms that I have already suffered hearing loss. I have developed tinitus that reminds me of this fact on a 24X7 basis. The tinitus screams at me after every gig. Well the results of my hearing test were very surprising. My test came back in the normal range for adults, and this was on a Monday after a weekend of ear abuse. I consider myself lucky and foolish at the same time.

 

Tomorrow I go back to get the molds made for my custom plugs. They are $130, but I think of what I have spent on gear, and the price is a drop in the bucket, and I can't buy another set of ears.

 

I am going to force myself to use them, and I really believe I will adjust. When I run sound, I will put them in after the sound is dialed in, and will take them out on a periodic basis. When I am playing on stage, I will wear them all of the time. I don't have to sing, but I could see the potential discomfort if I had too.

 

I have just seen too many veteran musicians that are nearly deaf, and when you hang up the gigging shoes, will you look back and tell yourself it was worth it?

 

I will let you know how it goes for me, maybe I will eat some of these words after I get mine, but my commitment to myself not be deaf when I am 65 is strong enough to overcome any initial inconveniences.

 

One more point: Do ever notices that some vetern sound guys eq'ing is really bad? Either the high is is real brittle and the vocals are uncomfortably "s"ee, or the low end is unbearable. They are mixing to what sounds good to them. I think at part of the reason is that hearing loss causes them to overcompensate.

 

 

[This message has been edited by Bart (edited 05-17-2000).]

[Anderton]

I've always worn some type of hearing protection. I started off with cotton (not the best, I know, but better than nothing) and have now progressed to the industrial-strength earplugs. True, you don't hear things the way they are. But I look at it like learning a set of monitor speakers. From time to time I remove the earplugs, just as a reality check. As long as the frequency balance is okay, then the plugs go back in. Yes, it's kind of a drag not hearing the highs real well, but that's a small price to pay.

 

I'd also like to add that there are other situations that are mean to your ears. I wear hearing protection in prop airplanes (although you have to be careful with planes - if you have extremely tight ear plugs and there's a pressure change, you could do serious damage). Also, impulse noise can be very dangerous. I always wear hearing protection when hammering, for example.

 

Although I've been around pro sound for a long, long time, I can still hear 15 kHz, and I don't have any ringing problems. That kind of makes up for all the taunts I received for not being "manly" enough to go onstage without earplugs .