Musicians are awesome! They bring so much happiness to our lives with their songs. But music is a lot more powerful when it’s loud, and that can be a hearing hazard. The musicians themselves are at an even greater risk of hearing damage since they are exposed to loud music nearly every day.
As you get older, you’ll still want to be able to enjoy your favorite music whether you’re a musician or not. For musicians, preserving their hearing is the key to a lengthy and successful career. For the rest of us, hearing protection is the key to a lifetime of musical enjoyment and enrichment.
Music is surprisingly loud
If you ask most people if a jet engine is loud, they’ll likely say yes.
Is music really that loud? People might not be so quick to answer that question if you ask them if a violin or acoustic guitar is loud. Usually, when they hear the answer, they’re pretty surprised: that music is indeed loud! Even classical music can reach relatively loud volumes that can easily damage your hearing.
Sounds louder than 90 dB can be produced by a violin, for example. That’s about as noisy as a leaf blower. To put that into context, the European Union laws stipulate that any work environment louder than 85 dB will require the use of ear protection.
And your hearing can be significantly damaged over time if you’re working with music every day, especially if you don’t use ear protection.
How can you protect your hearing?
Okay, musicians who want to preserve their hearing for years to come need to protect their ears. So how can musicians keep enjoying their music while also preserving their hearing?
Here are a couple of strategies:
- Take breaks: Your ears are like any other part of your body: they can become exhausted and will often benefit from a break. So take frequent breaks from the noise. By doing this, noises won’t overpower and harm your ears. With regard to hearing, how long you’re exposed is almost as significant as how high the volume is. Taking breaks can be the difference between just the right amount of stimulation and too much!
- Track your volume: Everyone knows the old saying “knowledge is power”. So it follows that you should always be aware of what levels of sound you’re exposing your ears to. Tracking the volume on amps and PA systems is part of it. But you can also buy a volume meter app for your smartphone to make it easy to track the real-world volume levels your ears are experiencing day in and day out. You will need to make some changes if the meter consistently reads louder than 85 dB.
Ear protection is important
Of course, the single most effective thing you can do to protect your hearing is simple: using ear protection of some kind. Lots of musicians are concerned that ear protection will muffle the sound and effects its overall sound quality. But depending on what kind of hearing protection you use, that may not always be accurate.
- Ear plugs made mainly for musicians: Disposable earplugs are something that’s most likely very familiar to most individuals. They don’t always fit comfortably, but they do reliably stop a lot of sound. They’re inexpensive, easy to get, and easy to dispose of. For musicians, they aren’t a great solution. But earplugs just for musicians are also available at a slightly higher cost. A special material and state-of-the-art engineering are used to help these earplugs fit snuggly in the ear and reduce external noise by about 20% while preserving the audio fidelity. This solution is perfect for musicians who need a light to moderate level of protection (and who don’t have a ton of money to invest in earplugs, or are likely to misplace them).
- Electronic earplugs: The same basic functionality found in non-electronic earplugs can also be found in electronic earplugs. The earplug itself will block out most of the sound. But the earplug itself will pipe in the sound you hear. For individuals who work in really loud settings and need better control of the volume, these earplugs are ideal.
- In-ear monitors: The majority of music is electronic nowadays, or at least amplified by electronics. An in-ear monitor takes those electronic signals and conveys them directly to a device placed inside of your ear (called an in-ear monitor). The majority of monitors are little speakers that fit tightly and block out most sound while playing sounds you want to hear at safe volumes. This means you can hear exactly how you sound, at a volume you control. For musicians who electronically amplify their instruments these in-ear-monitors are the ideal solution.
Protect your career by protecting your ears
It’s better to begin protecting your hearing early, before any significant harm occurs. With options available at nearly every price point, there are simple ways for everyone to safeguard their hearing and their future. Don’t forget that you’re investing in your career by using hearing protection for musicians. By doing so, you will be able to enjoy creating music for as long as you want to.
Don’t really know where to start? Contact us today, we can help!
