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Hearing protection question

red mosred mos Posts: 4,953
edited June 2007 in Musicians and Gearheads
What do you guys that play in bands and /or attend concerts frequently use for hearing protection? I have to wear earplugs cause of a high frequency hearing loss due to listening to loud music when I was little. I hear fine, but at concerts I got to have the plugs. I've seen so many musicians play without ear plugs and they don't have them when they watch opening bands. Won't that cause hearing damage, or do I just have a weaker set of ears?
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Comments

  • brain of cbrain of c Posts: 5,213
    speak up. i was in a band.
    d'oh!!!!!!

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  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    Just a pair of rubber deals, that seem to give me a little more control then the typical cheap foam ones.

    But no matter what something is required. It's not worth it!
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  • YieldedYielded Posts: 839
    I always wear earplugs at concerts, and to be honest, I don't understand why 90% of the people around me don't. Wearing earplugs makes the music sound much more defined, not to mention you don't spend the whole concert worrying about your ears hurting.

    I used to play in a band a couple of years ago and apparently during one rehearsal I hadn't put in my earplugs correctly which left me with a - luckily faint but permanent - ringing in my right ear. Luckily I didn't suffer any hearing damage but I consider myself warned and always pay attention to bring earplugs to concerts.
    "We get these pills to swallow... how they stick in your throat... Tastes like gold..."
  • CazpjCazpj Posts: 58
    Ear plugs are a must for sure. I always wear them practicing with bands, personal practice (drums) and at all gigs - playing and watching.

    I have the custom ones that are kind of expensive (I got mine for £180 through my local hospital), but are totally worth it - they cut off all the dangerous frequencies without any loss of quality to the sound you hear. So it's not muffled as with cheaper plugs, but they still protect you from hearing damage.

    Some of the cheaper ones are ok too (like the ones with the cone type shape), I just went for the custom ones because I spend so much time around loud music that I thought it was worth having the really good quality sound.

    The only time I don't wear 'em is when I'm watching a band eg, PJ :) who I might want to sing along with - because with ear plugs in all you hear when you sing along is your own voice. But those are pretty one off gigs..

    But generally, yeah - definately worth having decent protection. It takes surprisingly little exposure to loud noise of any kind to start causing permanent hearing damage.
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  • CJMST3KCJMST3K Posts: 9,722
    I wear standard foam earplugs when playing my drums. Works well.

    I know when Smashing Pumpkins toured in '97 or so, James chucked his green foam earplugs onto the floor after playing, so they are used by the biggest professionals.

    I believe they make the foam earplugs in different decible levels - so you can buy the amount of protection that is right for you.
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  • who's_pearljam?who's_pearljam? Posts: 2,104
    I always wear them now. Playing on stage in the older days, 70's , was REALLY bad. The stage volumes were excruciating. Now that stage and PA systems are much better, it's a bit better, but I get bad earaches at most concerts now.

    Sonic II plugs work pretty well for me. They let the music through. Actually the only place anyone ever gave me a hard time about it was a PJ concert. Some guy next to me was yelling at me for being a wimp and wearing earplugs!

    One thing about them is that you can hear people talking to you in a noisy club, too. It's not just someone's lips moving and me nodding my head and smiling, wondering what I just agreed to doing! :D
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  • lucylespianlucylespian Posts: 2,403
    who's_pearljam? wrote:
    I always wear them now. Playing on stage in the older days, 70's , was REALLY bad. The stage volumes were excruciating. Now that stage and PA systems are much better, it's a bit better, but I get bad earaches at most concerts now.

    Sonic II plugs work pretty well for me. They let the music through. Actually the only place anyone ever gave me a hard time about it was a PJ concert. Some guy next to me was yelling at me for being a wimp and wearing earplugs!

    One thing about them is that you can hear people talking to you in a noisy club, too. It's not just someone's lips moving and me nodding my head and smiling, wondering what I just agreed to doing! :D


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  • samquigleysamquigley Posts: 220
    Ha!
  • SwitchSwitch Posts: 119
    I had always assumed that earplugs eliminated sound, not reduced the volume :S
  • PatrickBatemanPatrickBateman Posts: 2,243
    I always wear mine when playing drums. Plus they make everything sound much better. I have Paiste Dimensions 18" and 19" raw crashes and 22" Paiste 2002 power ride and they get pretty loud....my guitar player never wears any earplugs even though I always keep a few extra pairs around.
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  • ianvomsaalianvomsaal Suncoast, FL Posts: 1,224
    In ear monitors really do work wonders.
    You can hear everything that's MIC'd very well, and they really help cut down on the SPL's.
    This way you don't go def. . . (as fast)

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  • Thorns2010Thorns2010 Posts: 2,201
    Yielded wrote:

    I used to play in a band a couple of years ago and apparently during one rehearsal I hadn't put in my earplugs correctly which left me with a - luckily faint but permanent - ringing in my right ear. Luckily I didn't suffer any hearing damage but I consider myself warned and always pay attention to bring earplugs to concerts.

    Ummm....if you have permanent ringing in you ear that is hearing damage.
  • YieldedYielded Posts: 839
    Why? I don't need to turn up the volume on my TV or ask people to speak up in everyday conversation. Technically, it might be defined as hearing damage but it doesn't affect me in everyday life so as I said, I just consider myself warned not to expose myself to loud music without protection anymore.
    "We get these pills to swallow... how they stick in your throat... Tastes like gold..."
  • Thorns2010Thorns2010 Posts: 2,201
    I'd be willing to wager that you can't hear high frequencies much any more. So even though you can hear day to day sounds fine at normal levels, you are probably missing out on harmonics and what not.

    But as you said, you learned from it and protect your ears, so I'll just shut up now.
  • JofZJofZ Posts: 1,276
    Sensaphonics!

    Their monitors are just unbeatable. They have different filters as well.
    Here is a big tip!



    Buy them at a Guitar Show and get a huge discount!
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  • keepVHSalivekeepVHSalive Posts: 30
    dont worry about it
  • keeponrockinkeeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    I play reasonably loud, but starting to tone it down because if I'm sitting around the house every once in a while I'll hear a ring.
    Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
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