February 21, 2015 editorial: comments

Do You Use Protection?

If I had lots of money to invest (one can dream), I’d find a well-run company that makes hearing aids and gobble up its stock. Why? Because as smartphone use continues to skyrocket, people are listening to more music than ever with earbuds and headphones — and they’re listening loud. The result will likely be a generation with premature hearing damage.

I recall being on a New York City subway train — surrounded by a cacophony of screeching metal against metal — and a guy in the seat across from me had earbuds on and was bopping to the rhythm of EDM. How could I tell what type of music it was? I could hear it leaking out of his earbuds from across the aisle of a noisy train!

Those of us who are musicians or producers or engineers (or most likely all three these days) have to be especially careful about our hearing — our most precious commodity. And if you’re a live performer, you have to be exceptionally diligent about hearing protection. Bands (or DJs) often produce music well over 85 dB (the damage threshold), so you’re exposed to potentially harmful levels for hours on end.

Not only can you lose hearing at certain frequencies (usually the upper-midrange speech recognition frequencies go first) but you’re also in danger of permanent tinnitus (ringing). It’s not unusual for your ears to ring after a loud gig, but it usually stops a day or two after. With too much exposure to damaging sound levels, though, your ears might never stop ringing. You’d have to adjust to living with a permanent high-pitched whine in your ears. And you’d notice it even more when you’re in a quiet environment — like when you’re trying to sleep. Tinnitus is not just annoying, it can be debilitating.

So, I would recommend a couple of things: First, wear earplugs if you play gigs. You can get off-the-shelf plugs made for musicians that sound a lot better than standard foam plugs — the latter are the musical equivalent of showering with a raincoat. But if you can invest in custom-fitted musicians plugs, you’ll get much better sound quality.

There’s no doubt it’s a challenge to adjust to wearing plugs onstage, but if it saves you from premature hearing loss or tinnitus (or both), the pain is worth the gain. Once you damage those precious ears, there’s no turning back the clock.

Because most music-related hearing damage results not from occasional exposure to loud sounds, but from repeated exposure, your studio is also a danger zone for your ears. To protect your ears, don’t monitor at loud levels for long periods of time, and keep your headphone levels relatively low. Sure, if you’re tracking with a drummer, you have no choice but to turn up your headphones, but for overdubs and mixing, go easy on the volume. What I often do is find a comfortable level and then reduce it a little. I usually find I can get by fine with lower headphone volume.

Do the same thing when you’re out and about, listening to your earbuds or headphones. Find a level that initially feels comfortable, and then turn it down some. Believe me, you don’t want to listen as loud as that poor fellow on the subway. I can’t imagine that he hasn’t already lost some hearing, and he was only in his twenties.

What’s the loudest show you ever played? And how long did it take for your ears to stop ringing? Let's discuss.

Have a great week.

Mike Levine

U.S. Editor, Audiofanzine