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Hearing Loss and Ear Plugs

#721
Has anyone here tried these?

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#722
the day I had an audiologist make a set of musician's ear plugs was the day my life changed forever. Yes, it took a while to get used to the difference, but not all that long. And once I adjusted, I became a better player, because I could hear everything that was happening on stage.
 
#726
for the price I find the ep4 to be excellent. I use them for shooting sports and will wear a pair for 5 hours straight during a IDPA match and they feel quite good.I must say they can be a bear getting them in the ear properly with out a mirror.I am not use to it yet. My wife just pops hers in but I find I got to twist it back and forth a bit to seal the ear but once in they work great. 12 bucks well spent
 
#727
winston said:
Pete Townshend of The Who, one of the foremost hearing-impaired musicians around, has said that he believes his hearing loss was caused more by high-volume headphone usage than by the Who's (in)famously loud shows. Since you can't
wear earplugs with headphones, try to keep the volume down!
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I heard one of the main reasons Pete Townsend had heavly damaged hearing was because Keith used to much explosives when blowing up his kit one time and Pete was stood next to it, and he couldn't hear any thing for a long time.

I was also informed that he then had to play with acrylic screens around him for some time so he could hear what he was doing.
 
#728
PattiMichelle said:
One thing he checks for in folks with ear problems is if they habitually or compulsively clench their jaw muscles (like at night, all night), because the constant electrical impulses to the jaw through the facial nerve can excite the auditory nerve right beside it to give tinnitus and/or vertigo (my problem - caffine-stress induced!). Real tinnitus comes from damage to the cochlear nerve hair cells and they never heal. If ear problems came from playing bass (rather than from, say, stress), it's probably permanent.

Turns out posture is important, too - not because your mom thought so: "hunching over" eventually makes your neck loose its "arch," which is biomechanically fundamental to holding your head up w/o over-stressing your cervical disks. Years of over-stressed cervical disks gives you bulging disks and pinching the nerves, which can affect your fingers, neck, and face nerves (therefore, by the above, your auditory nerves). I think all bassists should learn to exercise their neck muscles properly.
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I don't clench my jaw at night but i suck my jaw shut if that makes seance. I have horrible posture but i am still young and can here up to 19k hz. I guess its time to fix my posture.

If your wondering i tested my hearing at school with all the other kiddies using audacity nice tone generator
 
#730
After reading this thread I booked into an audiologist today and got some moulds done. It's something I hadn't even though of but now realize the importance so I'm only happy to prolong my next GAS purchase in favor of decent hearing.

I also asked for a hearing test done while I was there which came back with good results except for a nasty dip at 6000hz. I know when that damage happened too, I was right in front of a PA while watching a band in a small pub and it was so loud it was distorting inside my head. All I could hear was basically white noise.
Was a killer spot though :hiding:
 
#731
winston said:
Everybody has given great advice here. I've been using the cheapo foam plugs or wadded up paper when the volume gets hairy but I ought to look into some custom jobbies. Pete Townshend of The Who, one of the foremost hearing-impaired musicians around, has said that he believes his hearing loss was caused more by high-volume headphone usage than by the Who's (in)famously loud shows. Since you can't
wear earplugs with headphones, try to keep the volume down! Also, I seem to remember reading something about tinnitus being related to chronic strain of muscles in the head and neck, and improving with osteopathic or cranio-sacral therapy as well as other more holistic, hands-on approaches. I've also seen a pamphlet on various nutritional treatments for tinnitus. That's not to say we shouldn't protect our ears-but maybe there can are some effective alternative treatments out there. Anybody else heard about these?
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I know a who fan who is deaf in one ear. I have really big jet pilot type ear muffs, what is good in the ear plug department?
 
#732
I'm a high school band director AND a gigging bass player. So I spend many days with a loud marching drumline and brass section in my ear, and then I have guitar amps and a drumset in my ear many evenings. On top of that, I like to go hear live bands when I'm not playing. I said all of that to say this... I have become best friends with my ear plugs.
 
#733
I have been using custom fitted hearing protection for a while now and wouldn't play without them ever again. I have mild tinnitus and there is no way I'd ever take a chance on letting it get worse! I paid $150.00, it was the best investment I ever made!!!
 
#734
My advice.......get some moulded plugs right away if your a gigging musician, I haven't been able to enjoy complete silence for around 8 years, I was warned about tinnitus back in the day but being younger, dumber, rock n' roll or whatever, I didn't do it, until I played an exceptionally loud gig with a three piece one night and got home to the high pitched whistling, I started to worry after about 3 days because it was still there, after a week, I realised I had f**ked up big time and that I had made a new life-long friend.....tinnitus. Hindsight is a lovely thing, just don't MAKE it happen.
 
#735
I've used the ER20's for a long time, but recently had an audiologist make a set of custom plugs; Westone is the brand they offered. I've searched but can't find out if it is possible to switch out the filters and use the custom molds with earbuds for an in-ear system. Can this be done?
 
#736
I started playing bass in about 1980 and I play for years without any hearing protection. I, of course, do have tinnitis. It's tolerable, but it's not cool at all. I also get "threshold shift" very quick and easy. That's the full, muffled feel in your ears after hearing loud noise for a while. It feels like you need to "POP" your ears, but they won't "POP". I can get it in five minutes around anything at moderate volume. It goes away fairly quickly, but I figure it's a sign of past and ongoing damage.

My son got in to competitive shooting many years ago and I went to the US Open Sporting Clays Tournament with him in 1996. There were two vendors there that made custom fitted ear plugs on site. I had a pair made for $50. It was a great investment & I haven't lost them yet. I wore foam roll up plugs for a few years before that, but the custom fitted plugs do a better job as you would expect.

The only thing I can say is that you have to make yourself wear them until you get used to the sound difference. What you will find out is that you can actually hear better on stage under loud volume conditions. You will pick up nuances that you could never hear on stage without plugs. You will actually hear cymbals clearly rather than the "blizzard of nails" overtones. The custom fitted plugs do lower all frequencies, but due to the physics of sound waves, they probably attenuate high frequencies more than low. You can generally hear your bass on stage quite well. I had to stop wearing western boots on stage because the floor vibration through my boot heels & my foot heels, straight up my spine and created a "roar" with each note I played. It was cool, but I couldn't hear anything but bass. It's not a problem on concrete floors; just wood. I don't have that massive an amp.....
 
#737
i play in a loud punk band, drive an old diesel truck, and do construction for a living.... a good recipe for hearing damage, not to mention f***ed up fingers. i never had tinnitus though, until after a 104.5 degree fever five years ago. ever since then, me and the ringing have been best buds. i was taunting fate, though.
 
#740
calibreG said:
Heres a good question...I recently got an ear infection, and have a gig tomorrow night. We play with in ear monitors - we dont really play loud - but loud enough to cause issues. Band practice two nights ago was AGONY!! Got any suggestions??
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Infections like moist warm environments. Keep the ear dry, including when you shower. And don't put anything there until the infection is gone because that just makes your ear canal warmer and more moist. You want to kill the infection, not feed it.

Use an amp tomorrow night.

You should also think about where you picked up the infection so as to avoid getting it again. Could it have come from your IEM themselves?
 

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