Sound protection/concerns

[CZ in AZ]

Hi all, 

It has been a long while since I have written, but I have a topic that I think some of you will find interesting.  I've developed tinnitus in my left ear over the past couple of years and while I do not have hearing loss, tinnitus can be caused by loud sound exposure.  I recently got an I-watch and started getting loud-noise alerts when I practice or play at sessions/jams.  I've now realized that practicing brings decibel levels into the 95-100 dB range and sessions regularly go above 100 to 103 dB or more. (ps the problem with fiddlers losing hearing is well known and they have 90 dB under their ear). Although I have used musician ear plugs before in large sessions, they made the sound muffled and the concertina sound all but dissappeared in a large setting. A musician friend told me about Loop earplugs that are calibrated to take out a range of frequencies with slightly more removed in high frequency ranges.  I ordered the Engage (16 dcb removal), and have been practicing and playing with them for about a month. 

 

The earplugs work and I can hear myself in a session and I no longer feel worn out sound-wize after an hour or more of practice. I like that I am protecting my hearing in the long term, so I will keep using them. Here is the really wild part to me. In some ways I like it better, I can hear what I am doing better in a session and scary or not, I think it will change my playing because I am hearing differently. In a session, I have no problem hearing the instruments around me, except if a guitar is too far away it just sounds like a rhythmic jumble - I can't hear the chords as cleanly.   My concertina sounds really different to my ear, the brightness, the reediness and button sounds on the notes is calmed down and the pure sounds come through.  I hear the high and low notes, so the frequency seems to be consistently suppressed across the range (side note, I love all those raspy bits of the concertina, so I miss that).  Strangely I feel hearing through the earplugs helps me connect the notes better because I can hear the little gaps. It also lets me control bellows better, ie the dynamics within a single note or phrase, because my ear is not maxed out with the sound. It feels like It seems harder to add chording, but maybe that will improve with time.  I have to be careful to not play loud to compensate for the smaller concertina sound in my ear, but I am adjusting to that as well and my friends are helping reassure me that it is not too loud. (or any louder than normal haha).  One other thing is that when I took them out at a session, I expected to hear myself better, but actually found that it was worse. There is just so much sound from all the players, that the relative volume of my instrument is no louder without the ear plugs than it is with them in and the cleaner sound with them in helped me have more control playing. 

 

I have yet to play with them at a gig and I am not sure I would want to do that because I want to hear all the nuances from myself and others. Even so, the fact that I have been conserving my hearing when I can makes me feel better about having some exposure to loud sounds at a gig. 

 

Has anyone else tried this? If so, can you share your thoughts about what you hear when "plugged" and if it affects your playing?

All the best, 

Claire 

 

[Ken_Coles]

I developed tinnitis around age 35 (about 30 years ago now!). It took a long time to realize it was my own brass playing (trumpet and horn) that likely contributed to this. I now use musician earplugs whenever in loud situations (or practicing with a fiddle under my left ear). For brass, you don't lose anything essential and I've even used them in concerts. I haven't had a concertina "gig" in many years, 😎 so I can't comment on whether earplugs cut out essential sound there.

 

Good luck managing it - you can do it.

Ken

[CaryK]

I wear hearing aids and also have 24/7 tinnitus in one ear.  I find that I hear my instrument better, i.e. clearer with the hearing aids out, when I practice.  With the hearing aids in a also get a bit of a buzz in my head as I play.  I'm not sure of the science behind this, but leaving the hearing aids off makes playing more enjoyable for me.

[Leah Velleman]

I also have tinnitus and have been using hearing protection more and more. At this point, playing with no protection makes my tinnitus noticeably worse for a while — it goes back to baseline over a few days — so I'm going to stick with it for the foreseeable future.

 

For practicing at home, I use over-ear hearing protection, which now that I'm saying it feels kind of ridiculous. Mostly I use them because we keep them in the garage next to the tractor, and I practice in the garage next to the tractor, so they're already right there. They're very comfortable but they look extremely silly.

On a morris tour, I use this style of earplugs. They're mostly marketed for hunting, which in the US means a ton of stores carry them, so you can replace them really easily when you're traveling. They're also very comfortable and look less silly.

 

I tried Loops, but they're not especially comfortable for me. Something about the angle between the earbud part and the loop part is awkward for the shape of my ears.

[Leah Velleman]

Maybe what I should do is get tractor earmuffs that match my team's kit. 

[Roger Hare]

14 hours ago, Leah Velleman said:

Maybe what I should do is get tractor earmuffs that match my team's kit. 

Excellent idea! Would you also embellish the muffs with bells and/or flowers in the general style of Morris rig?

 

Referring back to the OP, I've never used earplugs in a musical setting, but I do use good 'industrial' quality foam earplugs in the gym' - they do reduce the intrusive background noise (loud music, class instructors shouting at the top of their voice) to an acceptable level. I don't have any specific hearing problems though, and this may not be a suitable fix for those who do?

Edited October 31 by Roger Hare