Hi everyone!
The past few weeks I have been suffering with a horrendous
flu that has spanned well over Christmas into the New Year. The worst part is
the ear infection I am now left with! I have seen so many of you suffering with
the same thing so I wanted to make a post regarding our little ears and how to
protect them!
So, listen up!
The most common cause of deafness is
noise-induced hearing loss. Your risk is related to how loud the noise is, how
close you are to it and how long you're exposed to it.
Your hearing depends on hair cells in the inner ear that
transmit energy from sound picked up by the outer ear to the brain, through
converting it to electrical impulses. Loud noises blast and irreversibly damage
these cells, leading to hearing loss and sometimes tinnitus. Tinnitus is an
unpleasant condition in which you hear ringing, whooshing or high-pitched
whining sounds, when continuous it is extremely distressing.
Any sound can damage your hearing, some
more immediate than others. A sudden loud noise like gunfire or an airplane
taking off from a runway at close range can cause irreversible damage
immediately. Repeated exposure to loud noise causes a more gradual hearing
loss, with voices sounding muffled and distorted. Many people think that being exposed
to music is the only way your hearing can be impaired, but it really can be
caused in any profession at anytime.
For example;
My dad was a driver for many years. He
travelled across the world for an interior design company delivering all kinds
of stuff. I used to travel with him when I was young and have been very
fortunate to go to the places I have. He did this job for more than 15 years.
Everyday he would be in a lorry doing hundreds of miles a day exposing his ears
to all kinds of sounds on the road.
My family and I noticed that my dad’s
hearing had got worse, especially after he retired. Naturally as you age your
hearing will be lost, that’s part of the growing old part, but his hearing had
taken a dramatic spiral more than it should have. I noticed that he couldn’t
hear even the little things and he was beginning to get aggravated by sounds
that were not there, that’s when I took him for a hearing test.
At first he was in denial, being the
proud man that he is refusing to admit that something was wrong. When the test
came back it showed that he had hearing damage, quite dramatically. I looked at
his test results and saw that his right ear was worse than his left ear, that’s
when it hit me, driving had done that to him. All those years he would drive
with the window open, in all kinds of weather. The noises from the motorway,
other vehicles driving past him, construction sites he would sit outside for
long periods of time, the open air. All of this had affected his hearing, but
because it wasn’t instant he never noticed.
As hearing technology has improved over
the years, people with hearing loss are doing things that were previously
thought impossible. My dad was given hearing aids to help the frequencies he
had lost, since then his hearing has improved a lot and he is grateful that he
can now experience having his hearing back.
Whether you are exposed to factory
noise or listening to music, risk to hearing arises from a combination of how
loud the sound is and how long you are exposed to it for.
The largest study into noise-induced
hearing loss in musicians was published in 2014. Three million people were
examined, including 2,227 professional musicians. They found that the musicians
were about four times as likely to report a new noise-induced hearing loss
compared to the general population.
Unknowing to many people, a rock
concert can generate around 100db to 120db, which is as loud as a chainsaw.
We‘ve all experienced painful ears after leaving a gig or a club; it's not
uncommon to have pain in your ears, ringing or temporary deafness. It stops
after a while and when we wake up in the morning we are back to normal, but if
you go to enough loud concerts, combined with listening to an MP3 player full
blast the rest of the time, your ears will be damaged.
If you're at a gig or any place where
you can't hear someone talk to you from two metres away or your ears start
hurting, then your hair cells are being damaged. You need to stand away from
speakers, just take 10 minutes out from the music every hour and ideally wear
earplugs, they will evenly reduce the level of sound.
I’m a sound engineer; I expose myself
to sound all day everyday for long periods at a time. I will never prevent my
own hearing loss, but I can help protect my ears as much as possible by looking
after them. This goes for my whole team who work tirelessly making magic with
records day in day out alongside me. I have to make sure that they are in a
safe environment and they are looked after.
In the UK, the Control of Noise at Work
Regulations sets limits for exposure to noise. The lowest action level is an
exposure of 80 dBA averaged over a working day; about as loud as a heavily
trafficked street. When this action level is exceeded, employers must provide
information and training and make hearing protection available. When the upper
action level of 85 dBA is exceeded, then employers need to take action to
reduce the noise and hearing protection becomes compulsory. Of course music
frequently exceeds 80-85 dBA, but what counts in assessing the risk to hearing
is the average exposure. I have to make sure my team are offered the right
hearing protection and are keeping in line with the working regulations.
I have a little table of noise levels
that I have attached below. I refer to this table every time I train with my
team on sound frequencies and decibels. It’s always puts in perspective how
damaging some noise levels can be…
I have been asked these questions
recently, that is why I decided to make this blog post so I can speak openly
and share a little knowledge on what I know about hearing loss and hearing
protection.
“What ear protection
do I need at a gig?”
“I’m a musician and I
don’t want to lose my hearing at a young age, can you help me with finding some
hearing protection?”
“I want to wear
earplugs at a show but I don’t want to look stupid...”
“Can you recommend
any rehearsal earplugs? I’m in a heavy metal band and the space I record with
my band is small and it’s so noisy”
I would recommend good-quality earplugs
that reduce the overall level of sound but maintain an even spectral balance so
that you can still hear everything clearly when you’re at a show, although the
overall level is reduced it’s safer. If you don't want to wear earplugs when
you're performing, consider wearing them when you're rehearsing, as well as at
gigs. Disposable solid-foam earplugs won't give you this even balance and will
adversely affect your enjoyment of the music. These kinds of plugs I recommend
for traveling, long journeys, sleep or mediation. You can often find suitable
generic ear plugs in the good musical instrument and equipment retailers.
Beware that many musicians earplugs are available in different amounts of
attenuation, the greater the number of dBs of attenuation, the better overall
protection they offer.
If you’re really serious about ear
protection and want a long-lasting solution, I recommend making an appointment
with an audiologist. An audiologist will explain all the benefits of hearing
protection and take a mould of your ear to create custom made earplugs to your
precise specifications that will be comfortable to wear for long periods and
easy to clean and look after. Custom made earplugs will cost more, but
considering that hearing damage is irreversible, if you value your ears the
cost should not be taken into account.
I have used ACS (Advanced Communication
Solutions) in the past for generic earplugs and custom made
earplugs. Please click the website link below to have a look through their
products!
Or you could checkout my very own ear
protectors!
They are available to purchase on my
blog store, check us out!
I want to make people aware that
hearing loss is a fucking awful thing to suffer from and that you should take
as much care as possible. If you’re at a gig and you have earplugs in, please
don’t think you look stupid. It’s stupid neglecting your health for appearance.
It doesn’t matter if you’re in a live sound environment, in a studio, in a car,
at home, walking with your headphones in, just take the time to realise the
underlining damage that can happen.
Even if you hate music picking up some
earplugs is just as satisfying! Honest!
There are some really awesome hearing
tests available online for free. So, if you’re curious as to how your hearing
of frequencies is have a little go on the link below! Have a little fun!
Look after your ears kids, they are
important!
Thank you for reading!
My love as always,
