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Post subject: Hearing Protection
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:15 pm
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Just wondering if anybody here uses hearing protection.
I do.

I have several sets of ear plugs.
The ones I wear for work are different from the ones I wear for play.
The ones I wear for work have about 30+ dB of reduction and all of the reduction is across the board in terms of frequency.
They are the cheapest to buy, by far but they suck when it comes to listening to loud music.
They pretty much just "muffle" everything.

The ones I wear for play are vented and have filters cast in for 20 dB of reduction and the reduction conforms to a curve.
Seriously low freqs and seriously high freqs are subject to the bulk of the reduction and mid freqs are the least reduced.
The average reduction weighting is 20dB from 20-20K hertz.
I think how it works out is that the mids are reduced by only about 15 dB and the highs and lows get reduced by somewhere near 26 dB ending up with a mean reduction of 20 dB.
Those are specialty plugs and not normally available from suppliers of industrial hearing protection.

I went to a Foreigner concert a few nights ago and forgot my plugs.
I had decent seats so I was relatively close and so my ears rang for a few days.

Does anyone here use plugs?
If so, what kind?
Are you happy with them?

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 8:36 am
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Location: On the loo, regretting that gas station burrito.
I wear earplugs if I go to a concert, but I haven't actually playing any shows. I once made the mistake of not having any when I saw Killing Joke in a club a few years ago. Ouch! :P After that, I learned my lesson, although they were ridiculously loud for the venue they played in, and I was up next to the stage next to a giant speaker.

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 9:57 am
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I typically don't play too loud theses days, I mostly use use my vibro champ, and I am not in a band, but when I plug into my super reverb and give it some gas, or go to a high powered concert, I will use the E.A.R. Classic foam or my wallet emergency plugs, which I always carry.
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I have something similar to this I used when I was doing rock and roll monitors in the 80's and 90's but they were very uncomfortable for long use, a lot of times I would wear gun muffs, it got loud on stage a number of times, especially metal shows
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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:56 am
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I don't wear any hearing protection and never have. I know that I have some frequency loss
which has gotten worse over the past 60 years or so but I prefer to hear things naturally rather
than wear a hearing aid.

http://www.thecavanproject.com/musicians-hearing-loss/

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 12:58 am
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Good thread, Matt, and some great posts gang.

My observations. Elsewhere I mentioned when I was younger I had blood from my ear after sitting next to a Hi Watt amp next to my kit. Constant pounding of the eardrum without change caused the temporary overnight damage. That was after my early childhood days of belonging to a rifle club, and later when I and a mate lost our hearing and balance for a day because we missed out on ear plugs before destroyer 3 inch guns fired below us and we were not aware it was about to happen since we had been on watch overnight. In error we were forgotten participants without plugs like the rest of the crew who had just started their day.

Years of headphones at work, confined control rooms with a lot of noise, large studios, longtime drumming, my electric guitars, and being an audiophile with a subwoofer also did their share of damage.

I regret not having used proper hearing protection, but better plugs as they have today were not always available, but I can’t use that as an excuse for my foolishness. So far my hearing change isn’t severe, but it is noticeable.

I firmly believe some applications of digital doesn't help. Although, I can’t prove it, I believe digital audio can create more ear fatigue, can present less material and frequency response for your ears to exercise with at any given moment, and the equipment such as some inferior Bluetooth speakers, some mediocre onboard digital TV speakers, some compromised digital stereo playback that is convenient but lacking, and things like phone and tablet connected ear buds can alter your hearing ability. I am not saying any of this is the case, but we haven’t had long term results yet, and I would not be surprised to see some verifications and/or other related concerns arise.

Ear plugs or better management of one’s sound is a good thing IMHO. Volume is a danger for your ears, but know that not only volume causes hearing loss.

Thanks for the heads up, Matt.

FSB

Note: I do believe digital has it’s place. It is still in its infancy, and standards are not complete. That said, digital is a wonderful thing. It will only get better until it is seamless and more rewarding to the ears and senses. YMMV

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 6:59 am
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Knowing what I know now, if I was starting out again I'd definitely use hearing protection.

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 2:27 pm
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I wear the regular foam ones for playing and attending shows.

I should invest in a "good" pair, but they get knocked out of my ears fairly frequently at the kinds of shows I hang around, so the idea of losing a $30 plastic nub has kept me comin back to the cheapos.


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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 8:15 am
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I am so glad to see folks talking about this. After years of youthful indiscretion regarding my hearing I developed hearing loss. Hearing loss is one thing, but the horrible symptom of constant ringing "tinnitus' is the biggest challenge I have had in life. Waking up at night as though you have a jet engine running in your ears, constant never ending ringing. Many guitar hero's suffer from this problem, Eric Johnson, Clapton, Beck, Moon........ its a horrible condition.

I love my Stratocasters but play them at a low volume. The insanity in the music business is that musicians stand in front of their amps and speakers on stage. This practice is insane! sometimes I wonder how any of those guys can hear anything after decades of that kind of intense sound.

The human ear is not designed to endure such treatment. I cringe when I see adds in music circles bragging about "playing louder longer" they are not doing their customers a favor.

Ideally play standing behind your sound system. That may be hard to do practically, most stages are not set up for that. Wear hearing protection! Wear a earplug now or a hearing aid later! Never play with headphones plugged into an amp. Pull those earbuds out of you ears if you cannot listen to music at a sane level.

If you just have hearing loss consider yourself lucky. If you have hearing loss with high decibel tinnitus welcome to a higher challenge.

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protectionl
Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 9:49 am
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Some great tips oneal lane.

Regarding headphone/EarPods, etc. listening - one might think of using any one of a number of volume controls to prevent accidental loudness between their source and their noggin. It’s not perfect, but it is an extra layer of protection that can be shut down immediately.

FSB

It would be great if a limiter at the phones could be incorporated, but that might be an additional concern (especially in a monitoring situation). Who knows? Maybe it exists.

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:04 am
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If you think a loud amp does damage to your hearing try the same within a big brass band. :wink:
FSB

My thinking is that with guitars there is a difference with the volume, tone, frequency, and repetitive similarities of play throughout. Add distortion, amplification, ambient noise, and whatnot to the mix. There my friends is a whole lotta trouble.

Tommy can you hear me?

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 2:38 am
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FSB,

Yes sound intensity and duration are all complex factors. I can see were a brass band could destroy hearing, especially standing next to symbols. But basically sound over 85 to 90 decibels is a no no. My loss is a collective one music, hunting, motorcycles, working on jet engines for years and medications. Be aware that many prescription medications are ototoxic. I am just short of 60 years old. I developed permanent tinnitus post medication in 1993. The ringing is constant and rated in the 60 decibel range last time it was checked. It has been a real challenge and some time worse than others. One must learn to screen it out, pay no mind to it. Depending on fatigue and stress level people are more or less successful. Sometimes its seems to be all I can do is just endure, other times I can forget it. If your playing and really trying to melt into the simplicity of sound, its a barrier.

I read where Eric Johnson has had to be hospitalized because of tinnitus attacks. There is therapy now where they retrain the neural pathways of the brain so that the brain forgets the frequency level of the tinnitus. Evidently its fairly successful.

Any way I hope any one reading this will take it to heart. Hearing loss is real and it accumulates over the lifespan. One can not "tough it out" and not be affected. I know some guys that are the "I am so tough that noting can hurt me" or "wearing hearing protection is for sissies" those type guys loose hearing too. It's a physiological absolute, just like a burn.

So guys and gals please take care of your hearing! Enjoy your equipment and your music but realize much of what you do in playing with amplification is destructive to your hearing. Take steps against it.

Sincerely
OL

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 10:03 am
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oneal lane wrote:
. . . Be aware that many prescription medications are ototoxic . . .
I did not know that. Interesting. Great posts OL, and great thread, Matt.

Hopefully, this will help others to think of the consequences, and to consider the alternative before it’s too late. Even the sissy pros have jumped on board. 8)
FSB

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 11:22 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
I went to a Foreigner concert a few nights ago and forgot my plugs.
I had decent seats so I was relatively close and so my ears rang for a few days.

That is unusual for national touring acts now-a-days.
Sound levels are all OSHA regulated, so you normally do not get any ear ringing after shows now-a-days.


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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 6:37 pm
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This topic led me to try and save what hearing I had left.

I'm using these at live gigs and when hearing other bands now and I like 'em :
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessor ... 0000000000

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Post subject: Re: Hearing Protection
Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 7:38 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
This topic led me to try and save what hearing I had left.

I'm using these at live gigs and when hearing other bands now and I like 'em :
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessor ... 0000000000
Great addition to the thread, Mike.

I wish I had these /:; years ago. I just discovered how radically my hearing loss has become. I have a test LP and tape from a Sound magazine that I use for a hifi setup. It has both sweeping and separate frequencies. Not long ago I could hear upwards to 17Khz-18Khz down to around 30Hz. Pretty good at my age. One day I was waiting for my better half at the druggist and I decided to self check my hearing at a nearby test station. At the end I got a prompt to get my hearing checked professionally! I was told that I had a distinct loss. I thought that strange since I didn’t notice a big change and wrote it off to commercialism. Well, that was about a year and a half ago, and while setting up a new stereo I re-discovered that frequency tape. Uh oh. Not good news. Even with today’s limited battering of eardrums my loss is much worse.

My thinking is that even if you think you can beat the system, age will eventually add to your hearing loss naturally. It doesn’t help to add to that dilemma because, if you are like me, hearing loss will pay you a visit that will give you a quick and irreversible surprise.

Earplugs or similar are cool. Deafness is not.

FSB

As I said earlier, great topic. Matt. See what you started. Perhaps, we’ll save a few ears. :D

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