Musicians’ Hearing Protection

If you are a musician, then you do need to think about your hearing and specifically how to protect it. Musicians are one of the groups most at risk of hearing damage due to continually being in environments with loud noise. You might think that because as a musician you will typically be behind the speakers, you won’t be receiving the weight of the noise and this is true to an extent. However, if you’re in an arena with noise over eighty decibels, then you could still impact your hearing, and this is what you want to avoid. So, let’s look at some of the ways that you can dodge the danger here and continue to protect your hearing. In doing so, you can make sure that your hearing lasts for years, even when you are strumming on a guitar.

What is the danger?

There are two dangers that you will face when you are a musician with relation to hearing damage. The first is a loss of your hearing. It might surprise you to learn that your hearing can get damaged at any point in your life. This is often difficult for people to hear or indeed understand as we tend to equate hearing loss to old age and that’s just not true. A child or anyone at any age can damage their hearing.

This will typically happen if you are constantly exposed to loud noises repeatedly or if you are exposed to one loud noise at an exceptionally high volume. As already mentioned the volume of a music concert typically will be enough to damage your hearing.

The other potential danger is tinnitus. Tinnitus is another effect of damaging your hearing by listening to loud noises and can occur at any time in your life. If you have started to notice a sound that other people can’t hear, it’s likely that you have already developed an issue with tinnitus. The condition was recently dramatized in the academy award winning film ‘A Star Is Born.’

Of course, by taking the right preventative measures, you can avoid both the dangers here and ensure that your hearing is completely protected. This will minimize the chances of you experiencing either hearing loss or tinnitus due to the time you might spend on stage.

How do musicians protect their ears?

If you are looking for ways that you can protect your ears as a musician. Musicians’ hearing protection takes the form of earplugs. There are actually a variety of different devices that can be used to protect your ears, but earplugs are some of the most effective. With earplugs, you actually completely cover the ear canal. You will still be able to hear clearly what people are saying or perhaps the sound of your own voice. But the weight of the sound is completely removed, and that’s important. It ensures that the sound or noise won’t cause any damage to your hearing.

Earplugs are often molded, and this means that they can be squished and squeezed to match the shape of your ear perfectly. Noise travels through the air. So, if you can prevent air from getting inside your ears, then you can also prevent high levels of noise from reaching them as well.

Of course, it’s possible that you have already experienced a certain level of hearing loss. If that’s the case, it might be beneficial to ask your audiologist about hearing aids for musicians. These hearing aids are designed to provide the support that you need if you have damaged your hearing and still want to play your music. The right hearing aids can help you tap into your sound. You can do this with hearing aids that will allow you to turn the sound processors off. This is particularly important as it will ensure that you can get the right level of sound quality during a set.

Other hearing aids have Bluetooth options and other tech possibilities. This will allow you to connect to different pieces of equipment such as an amp. By doing that you can make sure that the source of the sound is delivered directly to your ear.

We hope this helps you understand a little more about musicians’ hearing protection. If you need more information, you should visit an audiology clinic. Audiology Clinics of Puerto Rico can prove expert advice about how you can protect your hearing or the tech available to support you if you’re already suffering from hearing loss. You can contact our office today by calling one of our convenient locations:

• Aguadilla: (888) 745-2793
• Mayaguez: (888) 699-7401