Think about the future — save your ears!
Hearing loss should stand for the worst fear of anyone involved in the music industry. It doesn’t matter how well you treat your room, and how good compressor you purchase for your studio — hearing damage will terminate your career immediately. There are no available remedies to fully recover the permanent loss, you need to treat your ears, like the most valuable piece of equipment. The earlier we start thinking about it, the more likely we are to secure our investment of time, money and workload into music.
You may think that in danger are mostly those of older age, or the dedicated soundsystem enthusiasts. Unfortunately, the stats indicate something slightly different. As much as these circumstances seem like the most obvious ones, other factors can easily be as severe. Half of the causes of hearing damage happen due to noise exposure and aren’t related to age at all. As for noise itself, it isn’t only related to massive stacks of speakers. By loud noise providing high risk of harm, we define anything equal or above 85 dB(A), putting pressure on our ears even for a very short while (few minutes). With decreasing level of pressure, the safe time of exposure expands, but it’s way shorter than you could imagine (up to around 8 hours, with all conditions at its best). Taking into consideration the time consuming process of mix-down, recording, or even listening through your sample library, while using exhausting for ear headphones (applying direct pressure to your eardrums, so more likely to affect your sensitive hair cells!), you’re putting yourself in danger of developing hearing damage in a short space of time. Bear in mind, these activities, if they haven’t yet, will become an integral part of your daily work and lifestyle. Half of young people in western world partially lose their hearing before reaching age of 35, which is directly related to excessive use of personal audio devices, and as we all know, this will apply to us much more, than to an average listener.
Even if you don’t develop severe hearing loss, the effects of tinnitus or hyperacusis are a common threat for those working in the studio, forcing you to reschedule sessions and waste the time you could spend productively. What’s more, it takes approximately 24 hours for your hearing to recover from temporary damage, but sometimes may take even up to a whole week. If you’re fortunate and your ears regain their health, you’re still likely to lose a week of potentially paid work, or end up wasting time on redoing it.
Luckily there are various ways to prevent it, but they take a bit of investment and consistency (owning ear protection is one thing, but regular use is another). The most ideal option available is a pair of moulded earplugs. With flattest frequency response filters, they will lower the level of sound entering your ears (usually by 17–20 dB), cut out the most harmful frequencies, but keep the natural, detailed listening experience, and what’s essential — make it possible to have a conversation (what’s the point in having ear plugs in, if we take them out in front of a rig, delivering a decibel shock to our eardrums?).
A leading company in production of those is ACS, registered in Britain, providing you with various types of moulded ear protection for various needs — from acoustic musicians to stage crew at big festivals. The middle way is their model Pro17 that delivers versatile protection — from club nights to recordings and everyday noise, possibly ideal option for most of us. Listening remains natural, apart from one aspect you should be aware of — hearing your own speech, amplified by the occlusion effect (sound carried through the cartilage at the side of your head, that normally would escape through your ear canal). This is a normal phenomenon and can’t be avoided so far, but paying attention to application can reduce it slightly. That and the price may be the only excuses for not having a pair of these yet. ACS and similar companies offer a price range of £120-£150. It is costly, and might not seem as exciting as a purchase of brand new modular synth; however this one-off fee will protect your hearing to most professional standard available. If you can’t afford this choice at the moment, it is obligatory to add this expense to your want list, that’s if you’re taking your musical future seriously.
In the meantime remember that any protection is better than no protection. For instance widely recommended EarPeace offer simple, effective HD ear plugs, coming with attenuation filters and little tube case you can stick onto your keyring to make sure they’re always handy (saved me a few times!). What’s great about it, the cost isn’t bigger than an entry to a weekend night out and the hearing quality is fairly decent for the cost. As a last resort — most of respected venues and festivals provide ear protection for free or for a very small charge. If you forgot your ear plugs, don’t risk it, go and ask a member of staff, or find your way to medical tent to save yourself a lot in regards of an extended, successful musical career.
Thanks for reading!
Natalia — Signalfire
