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Double Bass orchestra players and hearing loss

#21
Dennis Frati said:
Pat:

I use this brand. I think this is what your looking for? Invalid Link Removed

Dennis
Click to expand...

I have a set of the Etymotic custom ear plugs mentioned on this website. Here, in California, I needed to go to an audiologist to get them. They made custom ear molds of each ear and then sent the molds out to have them made. The whole thing of making ear molds is tricky and, there were problems with the first take on one ear and it had to be redone. But, they got it right.

Really like these and they are barely noticeable. I got filters with them so I can change the attentuation from 15db (for orchestra) to 25b db for louder music. Carry them where ever I go. Good even to use at concerts.

I, too, have found that the mild tinnitis has just about disappeared as well from less exposure to loud music, and I am talking more about loud trumpets in an orchestra. Yikes, just got done with a trumpet concerto. I don't think I could have got through rehearsal without my ear plugs.
 
#22
Etymotic Customs are used by the drummer in the rock band I play in. If I'm correct, he can change the filter strength and he never plays without them.

Etymotic also makes a one-size-fits-most "high fidelity" earplug, the ER-20. It is very similar in appearance to the Hearos High Fidelity plugs that I use and is similarly budget priced.

Given the low cost of these models, one could keep a set in each instrument case, just in case the situation gets amped.

Historically, I think the first set of higher quality plugs I used was a pair of [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] which were like the "generic" model and I had them in 1978 (they cost only $2 more now!) mainly because I played next to an insane and nearly deaf guitarist. I would imagine that I owe my hearing to those plugs. I think the Hearos may be more even across fequencies than the Sonics, but maybe I'll get a couple of each brand and do a comparison. I could use the spare sets.
 
#25
I also use the molded plugs. i sit right next to a kick butt horn section and when I'm stressed I started to hear peeping in my right ear.
I know I have slight hearing loss in the very upper 600mghz range but I get paid to play lower than that.
Low amounts of caffine and sugar help as well. The ear works like a muscle and sometime the dammage is only muscular tension in the ear BION.
Now 5 years later after getting the plugs I no longer have the tinnitus. I believe it was stress related. But this is just as important as the nerves are what cause the muscles to contract. And since I can't stretch my ear muscles I need to find other means.
I would rather play out of tune than be plagued by tinnitus!!
 
#27
I'm not an orchestral player, but while using professionally fitted earplugs (15db cut) with my swing band, I find that I'm much less confident about my intonation because I can't hear myself as well. I'm thinking I might have to either turn up to compensate or put the amp on a stand near my head. I also feel a little disconnected from the music, which is what I've heard most musicians complain about while using earplugs, even good ones.

Any suggestions?
 
#28
DB66 said:
I'm not an orchestral player, but while using professionally fitted earplugs (15db cut) with my swing band, I find that I'm much less confident about my intonation because I can't hear myself as well. I'm thinking I might have to either turn up to compensate or put the amp on a stand near my head. I also feel a little disconnected from the music, which is what I've heard most musicians complain about while using earplugs, even good ones.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Hey DB66:
I understand your comments about feeling diconnected with the music. I believe it's a natural expected reaction to what level you're used to hearing yourself, and the band playing at without plugs. I play in both orchestras, and a couple of swing bands, and have expiernced what you're talking about. Obviously there is a decrease in what your ears are picking up otherwise the polugs aren't working. I find the opposite effect though. I tend to hear the lower frequencies better because some mids, and many ohighs are filtered out. Where do you postion your amp now? I always have my amp on my right side, slightly behind me, with the drums next to the amp. I use a small GK w/ 12" speaker and will sometimes raise it off the floor. It does help me. In closing, remenber without plugs one's going to lose much of their hearing anyway, it'll just be so gradual they don't notice until it's too late. It's something to really think about. Hope this helps a little!
Dennis
 
#29
I sit 4th bass so I'm right next to the brass. Whenever we have a piece with tuba, the stage crew sets up a plexiglass barrier on a musicstand. It doesn't drop the volume but it does take the WHAP! out of the sound. Perhaps your orchestra has them.

If the tuba/brass parts are especially lound and piercing, I roll up a small piece of toilet paper and place it in my right ear. I found it really blocks the sound well and you are never far from some. I usually were the earplug during the rehearsals when they brass play the most and go au-naturalle in the concert so I don't have that swimming under water feel in the performance.
 
#30
I have hearing damage. I cannot hear any pitch above F5. My high frequencies are so profoundly damaged that the two hearing aids I wear cannot bring these frequencies up enough. There are sections where the solo line just vanishes when I listen to the following pieces: Paganinni's 24 Caprices, Edgar Meyer's cadenzas (harmonics), Webern's Four Pieces Op. 7, and the list goes on.

My hearing damage is strange. If there is a solo line that goes out of my frequency range, then that line will vanish. If there are supporting overtones (accompaniment) then I may hear some or all of the line. This is not always the case.

Either way it is very frustrating :bawl: . Get the plugs (musician's earplugs, not that foam ****) and protect your hearing, no matter the cost. My audiologist chuckled when I told her that I play bass (my high frequencies are shot). :bassist:
 
#31
A quick Tip for everyone who has problems with feeling disconected while wearing earplugs is to put them in a good while in advance of playing.

I find that if I put my plugs in at least half an hour before I'm on stage I'm able to adapt to them a lot better. As if the brain learns to adjust to the reduced volume and spatial aural information.

I've suffered from tinnitus for nearly two years> My primary concern is to stop it getting any worse.

Another tip for loud gig goers is to be aware of how much alcohol you consume. Alcohol will reduce the perception of the uncomfortable effect of loud music. Your senses become dulled so it is easier to tolerate damaging sound levels.
Ear plugs then become even more important.
 
#33
fcleff said:
Get the plugs (musician's earplugs, not that foam ****) and protect your hearing, no matter the cost. My audiologist chuckled when I told her that I play bass (my high frequencies are shot). :bassist:
Click to expand...

+1. I am glad I spent a couple of hundred dollars on good musician's earplugs a while back. I don't have hearing loss, but now even the tinnitus is better. Hearing aids later down the road cost much more than a few hundred dollars anyway. That means going to an audiologist to get the right fit. Brass players in the orchestra are loud and its all stressful without earplugs. Musicians earplugs don't sound like mud. In fact, even if you get those cheap musician's ear plugs they sell at Guitar Center and in music catalogs for about $15, you shouldn't have the sounds-like-mud problem. Good musician's ear plugs attenuate all frequencies evenly.

Sadly, our principal bassist, who recently turned 70 and plays in several orchestras, is really losing his hearing. How sad. He doesn't say much about it, but says "what" a lot and I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for him.
 
#34
+ 1 again. I had a set of molded plugs (15db) for years. Keep in mind that even though they're expensive they last for years and years. Mine eventually got less flexible and uncomfortable (and kind of grungy) but I still got a good 6-7 years out of em.

When I got those made the audiologist told me I had the hearing of a typical middle-aged orchestral player. Unfortunately I was 24 at the time. Damn that punk rock.

Reading this thread is giving me an earache.
 
#36
Manticore Guy said:
Do you any of you guys ever use those headphones you can get that lower the volume just like earplugs?
Click to expand...

Hmm.. like those things that the guys digging up roads use? :)

I dunno, I never heard of it, but it'd have to be really small not to knowck off the bass at your left ear, right? at least for me..
 
#37
Manticore Guy said:
Do you any of you guys ever use those headphones you can get that lower the volume just like earplugs?
Click to expand...

It's pretty easy to get non-attenuating ear plugs molded to your ear's insides, and you can then get various noise filters so that you can control how loud things sound to you.
Not cheap like foam ear plugs, but worth it to save your ears.
My stand partner uses them all the time; he's right next to the tuba/brass....
 
#38
I've been reading about hearing vis-a-vis the Alexander Technique and learned about another auditory dysfunction that can't be averted by ear plugs, i.e., high bone conduction. This means taking in more sound through bone and tissue than via the ear. High bone conduction has been shown to cause anxiety as it overwhelms the system.
Pity the poor people who have to sit in front of the brass.
 
#39
I recently went to an audiologist and found I need to start watching my hearing. He mentioned freeway noise as being one cause of hearing loss. Currently, I don’t use ear protection in my orchestras or jazz groups. I do use noise-suppression head-phones with my iPod while driving. Previously, I would increase the volume to compensate for freeway noise. Now I keep my iPod volume low and cut-out the freeway drone. This works very well for me.

Does anyone know if the musician earplugs have active or passive noise-suppression?
 

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