Hearing Loss and Ear Plugs

[keiththebassist]

A very important thread. I have some custom made plugs from Westone. They weren't cheap, but I consider my hearing to be pretty much priceless. They DO take a bit of getting used to even though they attenuate evenly.

I play in a rather loud rock/metal band and our volume at shows can be quite loud. I use them every time and I never have any ringing at all in my ears at the end of the night. As far as thinking they're not cool, neither is having to say "What!?" all the time. Mine are clear anyway, hardly noticeable unless you look close.

 

[Pep]

I'm in this "boat" as well. I played at high volumes on and off for the past 45 years. I also have tinnitis, but my situation is a bit different.
I'm also a vocalist and am currently with an 8 pc rock band with 3 horns. I've never had a problem with pitch and have always been right on . . . . . . until the past year.
It seems that my left ear has been damaged to the point that I hear the trumpet "flat". Since the trumpet is usually heard above everything else that where my voice tends to go and it's not only been horrible, but embarassing.

When I started playing, groups didn't use sound reinforcement. Everything came from the stage with the exception of the vocals. Marshall stacks, Fender Super & Twin Reverbs with JBL's that had highs so piercing it would slice your head off.

My current group is working on a solution to all the volume problems and my pitch problems. We're going to a complete wireless earbud system with no monitors and no backline. I'm having molds made to completely block everything exccept what I want in my mix.
My mix will have just vocals and the rhythm rhythm section.
If that doesn't work they'll need to find someone to replace me and I'll have to work with the traditional 4 - 5 piece group without horns.

Don't end up being sorry like the rest of us. Heed the warnings. Unlike days past, there's vast selection of hearing protection and earbud systems that will help eleviate future problems. Please use them!

Every musician should heed Jason's advice. As musicians, our hearing is one of our most important tools. Once it's gone, it's gone.


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JasonOldsted:

How did it come about? Well I was in a heavy metal band that rehearsed at full volume and played at full volume, so hours and hours of aural assalt added up unrelentingly and insidiously. I'm talking about two Marshall stacks at full tilt and my bass stack at full tilt, plus the drums being pounded at max to compete with all our sonic blasting.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have also damaged my hearing, from years of playing without ear plugs. I am lucky that my case of tinnitus is very mild, along with a huge dip in my hearing at about 3k.
Obviously, Jason's case was extreme. His band was so loud that he damaged his hearing even though he used ear plugs. The point here is that you should use ear plugs, but they may not save you.

The best advice for any musician is TURN IT DOWN!!! Your band will sound better, your audience will appreciate it, your sound man will appreciate it, and you won't have to live the rest of your life with a high pitched scream inside your head.



------------------
RAC

 

[Royal]

Hi there,

I own a pair of ER-20. I use to go to night clubs and they help a lot. If I don't wear them, the next day I suffer tinnitus and temporary blocked ear, for a week long. This ocurrs specially when I go to small clubs, with no windows or big space where the air flows.

I'm looking if there are more brands offering this kind of product, not ER-20, but a similar one. Maybe with 25 db protection.
ER-20 are very cheap, I was wondering if this protection is cheap, what about expensive plugs. More and best protection?

Thank you!

 

[Morkolo]

I use ear plugs in loud playing situations and have found it's saved my ears over time. Even short term like being the only guy coming out of a jam room that doesn't need to yell to hear his own voice.

 

[Tunaman]

Hearos if its not too loud, Foam block everything if the guitarist is being an ass, but always something

 

[spiritos2205]

I've had medium acouphenes for a while, but not 24h.

It can't be cured but there can be ease.

I've tried Melissa infusions (melissa is a plant) because they it,s the plant that has positive effects on acouphene.

In my case I think it has worked.

 

[frankdog]

Additionally, think of your amplifier as a stage monitor. Play at a low volume, let the PA do the rest for the audience. You'll also find that you feel better the next day. Loud sounds also cause your body stress

I actually cannot think of a better piece of advice than this, aside from spending the money to get a decent set of attenuated custom molded earplugs and then diligently wearing them. Turn down your amp and consider it a monitor. With today's preamp technologies and well-designed gain stages, we can get any sound we want well before the output stage of an amplifier. You can send a post-process feed via DI to the house PA and keep the stage mix at a reasonable level.

I too have tinnitus, after two decades of playing music, often way too loudly. I wish I could experience true silence again.

So, some SPL (sound pressure level) numbers and what it means in practice:

A quiet studio is 20dB.
Normal speech is 60dB.
An average acoustic instrument (at around 1m) is 80db.
Hearing damage occurs at 85dB.
Loud vocals close is about 100db.
Toms hit hard is around 125dB.
The pain threshold is about 135dB.

Most rock shows blast out 105-110dB SPL at the FOH sweet spot (approximately 15%-20% of the total room depth from the stage) and, because most sound guys' hearing is also trashed, occasionally louder. Certainly the lows from 50Hz-350Hz are enhanced in many clubs, driving the overall SPL up even more.

The most damaging sounds are not necessarily the highest in frequency. It is the long-term (anything over 10 minutes) exposure that causes permanent damage.

Get a set of earplugs. Wear them. Always. Turn down the amps. You'll be happier when you get to hear the whisper of a wind through the trees on some important future day.

 

[WildBill987]

yeah my ears ring all the time, but I can't remember when they DIDN't ring. I'm 64 and raised on a farm. As a tyke I rode on old tractors with rudimentary mufflers, stood next to corn shellers and combines, chainsaws, buzz saws....blahblahblah. Then I started playing rock and roll and riding motorcycles with rudimentary mufflers. I've been using a tip I got from a talkbass thread about cutting one plug in half lengthwise, putting a half in each ear. It seems to work pretty good for practice and doesn't give much underwater type sound. Protect yerself. WB

 

[mozilla314]

Last weekend I experimented with using
a Hearos Hi-Fi flange type plug in the ear
opposite the drums and using a foam type
32db cut in the ear closest to the drums.
I liked the effect. Enough protection to
tame the piercing snare and ride cymbal
bell on one side but still feeling like I could
hear the rest of the band with the opposite
ear.

 

[Bassmunnky]

I use the WESTONE customs. Great.

Get them. Use them. Anyone playing in a band for any amount of time, without protection and thinks they don't have damage is kidding themselves.

I have a ton of loss, just like Sting, Townshend and every other player out there that has loss and doesn't admit it.

 

[Baker69]

Earplugs are a must for protecting your ears I have some which attenuate the high frequencies. They take a bit of getting used to, but worth pursuing.

The downside is that it affects hearing yourself singing, are there any good one's out there for this purpose as well? (apart from in-ear monitoring one's).

In our band the main problem is symbols, on smaller stages these are very often in close proximity and can get your ears ringing after only 30 seconds of playing!

 

[dukepayen]

So about last week my left ear feels like it's been plugged and i can barely hear out of it. I've developed a cold during this point and had a fever throughout the cold. I still have the cold because i'm still coughing but no fever. However , I still have the ear plugged sensation, and i hear like a ringing noise from my left ear as well. I got antibiotics for my ear because i went to the ER and they said my ear was really red. I finished the antibiotics yesterday BUT my ear hasn't gotten any better.

 

[Bullitt5135]

+1 on the Westone custom mold plugs. At $150, they were not cheap, but the results were instant and profound. I used mine for the first time at last night's bar/classic rock gig with the -9db filters (I purchased the -15db as well, but haven't tried them yet). In the past, I've suffered from difficulty hearing on-stage and severe earaches after gigs/rehearsal. I've tried two types of Hearos and the Alpine plugs, but they just don't come close to the fidelity of the custom Westones. The off the shelf plugs helped a great deal with the earaches, but I struggled to hear what I really wanted to hear -- i found it very hard to sing with the cheap plugs.

With the Westones, as others have said, the fidelity is great. Everything is just so much clearer. When you are playing in a very small stage with your ears 3' from the crash and 6' from the shrieking guitar, the constant "shattering glass" highs are brutal. The Westones do an excellent job of taming those high frequencies. As for singing, I could hear myself "inside my head" really well -- I've never been more confident -- singing on pitch, not struggling to hear myself through the muddy mix. I tend to be low in the mix anyhow, so being able to hear myself in my own head if a huge plus. When I don't have to worry or strain with my vocals, my bass playing is so much better too.

I could not find any downside to these plugs. They were very comfortable (didn't even know I had them in), and I had no problem hearing my singer's voice between songs, etc. Seriously, this may turn out to be the best $150 I've ever spent on gear. We all spend so much money on guitars, amps and effects to get our perfect tone, but then we go out and suffer through gigs because of hearing issues. After one gig with the Westones, I can tell I'm going to be enjoying my gigs and rehearsals so much more in the future.

For those in Michigan, google MOSA audiology. There are a number of offices around SE Michigan, and they offer Westone plus and IEMs. Molds made for the plaus can be used later on for custom IEMs if you decide to go that route.

 

[Tommy504]

I love earplugs in loud settings. One can actually hear so much better without all the noise! Even with NRR33 plugs....

 

[hennessybass]

+1 this thread should be a sticky... maybe in the amps forum too.

I hated, hated to wear ear plugs, still do, but the custom molded plugs has made it OK. I got the westone plugs with the 9db filter. They are perfect. I hated foam plugs because they made everything sound like poop. The Westone plugs make things sound very natural, just not as loud.

I still don't wear em on stage that often, but on a small stage in a small room, when your head is right near a crash cymbal, or in a practice room... you bet. I also wear them mostly when seeing other bands!! If I'm gonna ruin my hearing, might as well be with my music, not some other chump who can't control the volume of his guitar.

 

[Bassorama57]

I use the WESTONE customs. Great.

Get them. Use them. Anyone playing in a band for any amount of time, without protection and thinks they don't have damage is kidding themselves.

I have a ton of loss, just like Sting, Townshend and every other player out there that has loss and doesn't admit it.

+1 Not to mention my "day job" in the Marines for 30 years included stints as demoltions and machine-gun instructors..Thank Goodness I play bass and still have low-freq hearing...

 

[Stev187]

It makes me happy that there are so many earplug threads. I have used them all (the Ety ER-20 are fantastic). In my experience, the inside of everyone's ear canal is different, so the fit/comfort issue varies widely from person to person.

On most gigs and practices, I usually use the foam jobs from the drugstore, even if I have my nicer ones with me. They are easier to get in/out and I like having extras to give out to friends and patrons if they want to use them. I find that these Mack's do the trick, and there's usually a Rite Aid or Walgreen's near every gig.

Foam plugs do "muffle" things a bit, but I find that my ears compensate for that within a song or two. Unlike the fancy plugs, they also make it easy to hear your own backup vocal pitch (kinda like plugging one ear while singing harmony).

I'm almost 45 and I've been pretty good about always wearing hearing protection. One tip that isn't often stressed is using protection for non-musical noise: mowing the lawn, running your band saw, etc. my recent audiology report made me happy--foam plugs paying off.

--Steve

 

[stugotz]

I too suffer from severe tinnitus. Thr ringing is so loud it interferes with conversations not to mention sleep. Too many years of loud bikes, bands, and women.......

 

[MrLenny1]

I have tinnitus, it is a LIVING HELL. High frequencies are all gone.
I spent $3500 on digital hearing aids, they help but the tinnitus
is a LIVING HELL. f*&^$% GUITAR PLAYERS.

 

[Stev187]

I have tinnitus, it is a LIVING HELL. High frequencies are all gone.
I spent $3500 on digital hearing aids, they help but the tinnitus
is a LIVING HELL. f*&^$% GUITAR PLAYERS.

I'm so sorry, MrLenny1. This is why I am a borderline pest to all the young players I come in contact with. Sadly, most don't listen to me. By the time we really understand the risk of NIHL (Noise Induced Hearing Loss), we also have grey hair and less influence on people... I'm only speaking for myself. We've made some inroads locally getting young musicians to use plugs, but there is still a stigma against it that really drives me nuts.

--Steve