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Hearing Loss and Ear Plugs

#921
I had some custom IEM/ACS earplugs made from a mould made at the Custom IEM stand on the London Bass Show. They arrived a few weeks back and I've tried them on two gigs so far and in the main they seem to be fairly flat in terms of their attenuation. However I have identified an issue which to be fair both IEM and ACS are going to look into for me.

Firstly when I move my mouth on stage i.e. laughing or smiling with the band members or punters, there is leakage of sound round the sides of the insert. This apparently can be fixed by making them a bit better fitting.
The second point is of more concern I think and I wonder if anyone here has had the same issue.

When slapping and popping the popped note sounds about a semitone flat which I found very confusing. Fortunately I was playing a fixed part so I could ignore it as I could see I was hitting the correct notes.

But I could see if being a problem if I was doing an improvised solo or not watching my fingers. Has anyone else noticed that.

Jazzyvee
 
#922
played my first gig with Etymotic -9db custom molds in. sounded and felt great, ears weren't ringing afterwards! I stand right next to the drummer and I enjoyed being able to enjoy his cymbals instead of be pained by them :)
These were 150 all-inclusive. Plan on using them for many years and I feel my hearing is worth that.
 
#923
I have used Alpine Musicsafe for many years with great success as an audience member at loud shows. They are silicon fit-all style with only 2 ridges which I found much more comfortable than Etymotics 3-ridge silicon plugs.
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Even the lowest protection White insert was a bit too isolating for me to use them while playing. Very happy with the -9db etymotics for performing.
 
#924
There is a tone generator app for iPhones that is free. I just downloaded it. Uses a sliding bar to generate three ranges of frequencies. Having never been a constant musician, I was still interested in what my hearing registered at near 54 years of age.

Sitting in a noisy airport lounge with apple earbuds in, I got from 16-12500, pretty avge for my age group per their app info.

If you can't see an audiologist you can at least start with 'free'....
 
#925
Just Tried another 'freebie' app by starkey labs (search 'starkey').

This requires a 'quiet' room, which an airport lounge is definitely not! The app is both tonally and volume based. Sitting in the lounge I failed on both ears. Want to try this one somewhere quiet later.

Between this and the other I noted above, you'll et an idea of how your hearing is doing...
 
#930
I always wear earplugs at rehearsal and when I'm seeing bands. I value my hearing way too much to risk losing it early on. I used to cop a lot of flack from mates about wearing plugs every time I went out to shows but now it seems that everyone is following suit.
 
#934
I haven't read the entire thread - way too long. BUt I'll add this - driving with your car's window down at highway speed, from what I read in an article by an audiologist, is about as damaging as 120 db. Lot of high frequency sounds being produced by the wind rushing past the opening and/or your ears. Convertible drivers and helmet-less motorcyclists are exposed to even more of that. Since reading that about 7-8 years ago I don't roll down MY window or I use the foam roll-up earplugs I keep in the console for the ear that is facing outward. Has seemingly helped my tinnitus and overall hearing tremendously. I was driving around my uncle who has tinnitus, first request he made was for his window to be rolled up, kicked his tinnitus up terribly.


Oh, if you hate plugs you could also consider buying really good quality headphones and using a small mic pre-amp and a mic to monitor the players around you. Like if you play in a garage and the drummer is 5 feet away from you and everybody else likes to turn it to 11. Current band plays in a very small room but we have a great headphone system.....I can feel my bass notes hitting my legs but feel like I am playing in quiet resturant. Bliss
 
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#935
I know I were ear plugs. Got tired of my ears ringing up to three days after practice or a show. I said that to someone on here and they quickly stated IM DAMAGING MY EARS. BADLY. Get ear plugs. So I did. And my ears are much happier for it. I def heed the warnings of the guys that have been playing for lots o years.
 
#936
Thank you guys for bringing up this topic. I'm in the market for my first set of plugs, and know I want to go the fitted route, but was wondering if there are any plug companies out there that allow a specific range of frequencies to pass through. My bandmates have great fitted plugs with different filters that have various db ratings, but are any of them frequency specific? If not, do you guys know of any EQ/frequency range charts that are out there for plug options? Thanks again!
 
#937
Go here: http://acscustom.com/us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=44

ACS is one of suppliers of molded custom plugs. They'll fit them with either their own PRO buttons or with Etymotic's. You can find frequency reduction plots for all of their models, and for all of Ety's. Just click through the description of the individual models.

Added: I placed an order for the PRO 17s last week; haven't yet received them, but I'll be back with a report when I've got some time with them. From the charts, Etymotic's got a similar model.
 
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#938
Ewo said:
Go here: http://acscustom.com/us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=44

ACS is one of suppliers of molded custom plugs. They'll fit them with either their own PRO buttons or with Etymotic's. You can find frequency reduction plots for all of their models, and for all of Ety's. Just click through the description of the individual models.

Added: I placed an order for the PRO 17s last week; haven't yet received them, but I'll be back with a report when I've got some time with them. From the charts, Etymotic's got a similar model.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
#939
blake263 said:
Thanks!
Click to expand...

You're welcome, good buddy!

I've used the off-the-shelf Etymotic ER-20s for a couple years, and found that a flat 15 db reduction worked well for me. The ACS PRO-17 and ER-15s appear to have similar curves. I'm having the custom plugs made so I can get a more comfortable fit, and (hopefully) experience less of the occlusion effect when I'm singing.

As you can see from the plots, if you want higher noise reduction or more reduction at the top end, other buttons are available at the same pricing.
 
#940
OK--back with a report on the ACS PRO 17 custom plugs. (I always find user comments helpful in deciding on my purchases, so I hope this is helpful to others.) I've had them for a week, and used them at a rehearsal and a bar gig.

As I mentioned earlier, I'd used the off-the-shelf Ety ER-20 plugs for the past couple years. I liked what I heard through them; I could hear the mix accurately, and the amount of sound reduction was enough for my band's stage volume, but not so much I was straining to hear speech off mic. Two things motivated me to look into having custom plugs made. The first is that they didn't feel comfortable. (I gotta emphasize that I'm NOT saying the plugs are uncomfortable, in general! When I had the impressions made for the custom plugs, the audiologist showed me my ear canal has an odd little cartilage bump. I'm sure the ER-20s will feel perfectly fine to many people.) The second is that (betcha because of that bump) they tended to walk out of my ear as I sang, so I had to keep pushing them back in. And if I didn't, ba-boom! The dreaded occlusion effect.

So I had the local audiologist make impressions (for $25) and sent them off to ACS in New York. I decided to try the ACS buttons. Everything about my experience was satisfactory. I decided to have them made with what they call "whiskers," to help in removing the plugs. These are just half-inch lengths of what looks like monofilament fishing line sticking out from the outer surface of the plugs. I'm glad I coughed up the extra $10 for those, as they do make it easy to pull the plugs out. They're unobtrusive; the plugs are clear and sit deep in the ear, and there's this little piece of clear line protruding to about the outer rim of the opening of the ear canal. The basic charge for the plugs is $185 plus $10 shipping, so my total cost was the $25 for the impressions plus $205 for ACS's work. And if you didn't like them or feel they were helpful, you could easily snip them off with cuticle scissors or a knife.

In terms of comfort, these are 100% there. I left them in all night, and pretty much forgot I had them in. The mix sounded accurate, the level getting through was comfortable, and there was no hassle with the occlusion effect when singing my backing parts. On break I had no trouble chatting people up at the bar.

Bottom line is that I can recommend them. I can't compare them to the same plugs fitted with Etymotics's buttons, but my guess is that they're good, too. (The attenuation curves look very similar.) I can say that if you're happy with what you hear through a pair of Ety ER-20s but the fit isn't perfect or you're bothered by the little plastic cylinders sticking out of your ears, going to custom plugs will be a couple Benjamins well spent.
 

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