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Hearing Loss and Ear Plugs

#241
I wore my new earplugs (ER-20s from Mike Dimin) to the Franz Ferdinand concert last night, and they worked perfectly. I heard perfectly after the concert with absolutley no ringing and I'm hearing perfectly now with no problems.

My friend said his hears were bothering him after the concert. I think we may have another convert.

Ear plugs are the real deal!

But I recommend Musicians ear plugs because foam ear plugs mostly just muffle the sound.

Also, with the ER-20s, talking and singing is a problem with them in; I haven't figured out a way around that besides taking one or both them out.

And don't think you just need them for the loudest of concerts. In my research, I remember reading that you should even use them at Jazz concerts! And in addition to concerts, I would recommend using them at movie theaters and sporting events (i.e. the crowd can get pretty loud at a Jets game, especially the guy yelling in my ear behind me :rollno: :p )

Sean
 
#242
just want to do a little bit of price checking here with those of you who know this kind of thing... ive been wearing my 12db cut hearos for almost a year now, but there are some times that i just cant wear them so im going for the custom fitted etymotic musician's earplugs. the first place i called said they would charge $50 just for impressions or $165 for the pair of earplugs (impressions included). if i wanted an audiogram that would be $45- 65 more. the second place said that they would charge about $25 for the impressions by themselves or i can just pay $120 for the pair of earplugs (impressions included) and an audiogram would be about $25 assuming the audiologist found no problems. (Im only 15 here, there shouldnt be too much wrong.) obviously audiologist A is trying to rip me off...are the prices i was quoted for audiologist B fair or should i keep shopping around. the $120 sounds pretty good so i would probably end up buying the plugs from them too. oh and the only reason i ever started wearing ear plugs was because of this thread. im stepping up my musical "career" a little so i decided to step up my hearing protection too.

thanks.
 
#243
Both of those prices are within the "norms". Audiologist A is not ripping you off. If you have health insurance, that should cover the audiogram. An audiogram is a really good thing to have. Even if there are no problems, it gives you a baseline to check against future audiograms and have the ability to monitor any hearing loss. Just because you are 15 that does not mean there are no problems. Ear infections as a kid, loud noise (like playing or listening to loud music), Shooting (do you hunt?) etc can cause hearing loss. Those problems should not change the cost of an audiogram, only if there is something needed after that. An audiologist is a medical professional, I would shop reputation over price. Lousy impressions will not create the needed seal, affect the quality of the sound (if they are not deep enough) and affect your comfort.

It is great that you are going to do it, but IF Aud A is better than paying an extra $40 over the life of the Earplugs is minor. You might want to find out if either of these audiologists can get the molds from Sensaphonics out of Chicago, they use a mold material that is softer and more comfortable than some of the other companies

Mike
 
#245
thanks mike, for some reason i never got the email saying there was a response until TheBaron posted. i will check on the sensaphonics thing. you said health insurance would cover the audiogram...since you seem to be well educated on the subject, you wouldnt know if they would cover any of the cost of the earplugs...would they? my mom wants to get the earplugs for me because she thinks its good that im willing to wear them, but my parents are going through a divorce right now which means that my dad has to pay for his apartment and stuff which limits our excess spending. ive been wearing my er-20's since i started my musical career about 8 months ago probably. the only thing that sucks is i dont want to wear them at more formal occasions (i have one of those about once a week) and i have such sensitive ears that even the low volumes we are playing at make my ears ring afterwards. with the custom earplugs i wont have those stems hanging out of my ears anymore and that is a definite advantage. i know the more expensive audiologist said they got their molds from Great Lakes Earmold Lab but i dont remember where the other one said they got them from. the more expensive one wasnt half as knowledgable as the other one though. thanks for the input.
 
#249
I recently tried custom molded musicians earplugs (with etymotic baffels) one mold worked great and the other kept exerting pressure somewhere inside my ear canal. I was going to get a new left mold when the right ear, that was working great tore right near the baffel, so I had both redone. will get them back soon.

whats my point??? I was almost thinking of going back to the ER-20s for music (still use them for work). however, the audiologist wasn't sure he could refund my money if I wanted out of the deal after failed molds. he made the second molds at no charge. just a heads up for those who might regret spending $150 and not being satisfied.

The ER-20s are a great deal over foam plugs or expensive molded ear plugs.
 
#250
I wish that years ago I had had sense enough to use ear protection... I too have tinnitis... as well as a 70% hearing loss.... :( Too many years of "dimed-out" Marshall backlines, 50,000 watt sound reinforcement systems and sitting betwen cranked studio monitors did irreversable damage to my ears and many others in my generation.
For all you young guns out there, save your ears while you still can. Use professional quality ear plugs designed for our craft.... they aren't that expensive. After all, how much do you spend on strings in just one year?
 
#251
i like tictacs said:
Does anyone with tinnitus think that they have a harder time figuring out what a bassist or guitarist is playing by ear? Are relative pitch abilities affected at all by tinnitus, or is it harder to discern different pitches?
Click to expand...

Mine isn't usually too bad, but it doesn't seem to affect my pitch recognition. The only time it really messes with my hearing is when I'm doing sound and I'm trying to figure out if that high pitched whine is a bit of feedback starting somewhere or if it's just inside my head.
 
#254
Slightly Off-Topic (for which I apologize) but during video school I made this little video PSA abour hearing damage (without asking for permission to use the H.E.A.R. logo at the end - it was a school project, remember).

And what I did was to try and illustrate how hearing damage - tinnitus - could be experienced. But I don't have hearing damage myself, luckily, so I don't know if my illustration is representative. So I'd appreciate some feedback (no pun intended) on wether or not the audio part of this video is sll right.

Here it is:
Invalid Link Removed
Length: 30 seconds. File size: 3 MB. Format: mpeg-4 encoded QuickTime movie, resolution 480*360. Download might be slow-ish.
 
#255
I have a set of the $165 molded silicone earplugs. It's one of the best investments I've made in years. I don't even go to see other bands' shows without wearing them anymore. They're very comfortable and after ten minutes I forget I had them in in the first place.

I used ER-20s for a long time. They are exceptional for what they cost. I had to go with the molded ones because the ER-20s don't attenuate evenly across all the frequencies and that ended up causing problems. It was tolerable when I was playing bass but if I had a drumming gig I found myself beating my cymbals as hard as I could just to hear them properly but the bass guitar and kick drum were too loud for my comfort. When I listen back to recordings of me playing shows I can always tell before looking at the date whether or not it's before I got my molded plugs or not.

Anymore I refuse to play with people who don't use proper hearing protection unless it's a quiet acoustic rock or jazz gig where there are no drums and very little sound reinforcement. This may be nitpicky, but it's detrimental to me as a musician when someone is constantly demanding more monitor because their hearing is getting more and more dead as the night goes on. It's especially a problem with vocalists and fretless instrumentalists. The stage volume is roaring by the time the last song is over and that makes me have to play louder to compensate, which makes the mix get out of whack.. it's endless problems. And at least for me, it happens without fail.

Playing without earplugs is on the same level as covering new-school Metallica and thinking you've done something useful with your time.
 
#258
I first read this topic about a year ago, and I got really paranoid about hearing loss, but also ESPECIALLY tinnitus. Luckily, at the time, I didn't actually have a band and I wasn't going to much live music at all, so my ears were relatively safe. I got some plugs (Sonic II's) for a Primus show in Toronto during the summer, which was also just in time -- over the course of this semester, I've joined a band, been in countless ridiculously loud practices (the only other person at any of them who was wearing protection was the drummer), several performances, concert and jazz band practices once a week, and numerous high volume live music scenarios!

Stupidly, I have done the following without ear plugs --

Performed 5 times
Practiced *once*
The majority of concert and jazz band practices

And in almost ALL of these scenarios, I'm to the left (and near) the drummer. As a result, I actually now have a *slight* bit of tinnitus in my right ear -- I've noticed it with increasing frequency (not pitch, but rather, how often it happens) in the last few weeks (haven't played out anywhere since the 23rd), but it's still at a very low volume. It's weird -- it's almost like someone throws a blanket on the rest of my hearing and this whine starts going at a specific pitch. I've had two of these "tinnitus attacks" in the last two days, and one last week!

Now, because of my birthday (november) and Christmas, I've got just under $200. For the last few days I've been thinking about what I should get -- puzzling over choice in DI boxes, then an Aphex Bass Xciter (packaged DI, too!), then the Aphex compressor, then to save up for an upright...and then this afternoon I was on the phone with my friend, and BAM. "Tinnitus attack". I was really freaked out...and let me tell y'all, there is NOTHING that will motivate you more to stop the progression of tinnitus than realizing that you actually HAVE it.

ASAP, I'm going out for some custom plugs, and I'm going to wear them every time I'm in a room with a drummer. Every time. And when I go to see live shows.
 
#259
I have a pair of Etymotic ER-15s that I've had for like twelve years now.
I just recently got replacement filters cuz the old ones were starting to sound weird (I think gradual moisture damage). Visually it looks like they've changed the design, and/or maybe my old ones were in worse shape than I realized - I hear more detail with them now.

Anyway... yes, if you don't have good earplugs GO AND GET SOME.
I've done maybe a hundred gigs in my life, not that much compared to some of you... and I've seen hundreds of other bands... and I have zero hearing damage.
I got the earplug religion after a three-day temporary tinnitus after an especially nutty jam with lots of metal junk percussion. A really really horrible three days. I am so lucky that it was temporary, and I've been fanatical about earplugs since and never had another problem.
 
#260
Forgot to mention... as others have said, don't overlook the possibility of damage when recording. I prefer to be in the room with the drummer to get the feel right, but that means blasting the cans to hear anything else. Very dangerous.
So I wear plugs under the cans. You risk overdriving the headphones this way if you're not careful, but which would you rather trash - a $100 set of headphones, or the only ears you are ever going to have for the rest of your life?

If the engineer objects, bring your own headphones. Good idea anyway, then you get the phones you like.
 

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