Hearing Protection Tips?

YourAverageDrummer

Junior Member
100% of the time I play drums, I wear foam earplugs and also earmuffs. I still have very slight tinnitus even with these, so I was wondering if there is something better I can use. The bands I play with use in-ear monitors, and I usually turn the volume up to the halfway point to compensate for wearing earplugs. What can I do to make sure my ears are completely protected? When I get out of high school I want to join the Army, and they don't allow people who have tinnitus, so this is really important to me.
 
Foam earplugs and earmuffs are about the best you can do - at least in my experience. That's double hearing protection and is what is required for all the people who work on the flight decks of aircraft carriers. Having been stationed on an aircraft carrier, I can tell you that I've never been in a louder environment than that.

If the double hearing protection isn't doing the trick, I'd suggest you start muffling your drums and cymbals, too. Perhaps someone makes foam drumsticks. ;-)
 
It sounds like you are on the right path. I am the safety manager at an aluminum extrusion factory and we have just instituted plant wide hearing protection. We have always had hearing protection but not plant wide. You should be getting ample protection from foam plugs and muffs. Look at the NRR rating on them. The higher the number the better the protection.

Another very important thing is to make sure you are inserting the earplugs in correctly to get the best seal that will provide the best protection. There should be instructions on the package. The ear muffs are pretty straight forward.

I haven't used in ear monitors, but unless you just have them cranked really loud, I would think they would offer better protection than having a wedge(s) blaing right in your face.

The only other thing I could think of is using the sound off mutes on your drums while practicing to quiet them down even more. Playing softer is an option too!
 
Go to an audiologist and have them make you a pair of custom ear plugs. They cast about $100 for the set in addition to the office visit, but are well worth it. I use mine when I'm playing with a sadistic blues guitar player who seems to like turning his amp to to "10" and assaulting everyone. I use them also for motorcycle riding. And in addition to sitting behind a drumset, there's no better place to get tinnitus than in the Army itself.
 
Go to an audiologist and have them make you a pair of custom ear plugs...

I spent $150 at the audiologist to get those earplugs 10 years ago and if you're trying to save your hearing as aggressively as you are, those aren't what you should be wearing. You can spend $15 at GC and get roughly the same amount of attenuation (~25dB) and similar frequency response. I had both at the same time and was able to A-B them so there's my little review.

As good as things sound with either of those described above, neither offers the level of protection of foam earplugs - let alone double hearing protection.
 
if u feel u have tinnitus but while actually playing you dont feel to the slightest that your hearing is being damaged, the problem might be completely different from what u think. i just recently was exactly at the same situation (im using double protection too), and in the end i figured i have a wax plug inside of my ear, probably gathered there from constant earplug usage. check it out it might be the problem
i went to the doctor guessing that its probably the case from stuff i read on the net and he figured the problem + removed the plug in less than a minute
 
Cheap attenuation can be found at Home Depot and called AOSafety (92059 seems to be their catalog number, the UPC code is 7871 92059) and qty per box is 60 with half the box is orange foam pad, the left side are purple. Just coloring, no diff and they are SOFT feeling, unlike hard foam so my inner ear canals do not get fatigued. The NRR rating is 32dB. If you need more then go to your local arms store (gun shop) an get high NRR rated over the ear units.

FYI: i use custom JH Audio JH13 Pro in ear monitors, they work quite well and all is fine, yet if we are talking achieving the lest amount of sound per se then, frankly the JH Audio are not as good as the AOSafety with my over the ear 'phones.
 
i use some alpine ear plugs, they have three filter types with different attenuation levels so i use the highest one (gold). i then wear a pair of ATH-m50s over the top. i don't really feel the need to get in ear monitors atm.. i don't have a personal mix engineer at most of the venues i go to, and the audio technicas can re-produce my e-kit perfectly. maybe when i have someone i trust 90% as an engineer in the future then i'll switch to in ear. maybe not.
 
if u feel u have tinnitus but while actually playing you dont feel to the slightest that your hearing is being damaged, the problem might be completely different from what u think. i just recently was exactly at the same situation (im using double protection too), and in the end i figured i have a wax plug inside of my ear, probably gathered there from constant earplug usage. check it out it might be the problem
i went to the doctor guessing that its probably the case from stuff i read on the net and he figured the problem + removed the plug in less than a minute


Great suggestion! There's definitely some noise in my ear, but when I did this test (http://www.audiorelief.co.uk/en/tinnitus_test.html), none of the pitches seemed to match up with my sound. With the "wax shell" did you feel anything in your ear, like a ton of wax?
 
100% of the time I play drums, I wear foam earplugs and also earmuffs. I still have very slight tinnitus even with these, so I was wondering if there is something better I can use.


That's a ton of attenuation. Unless there's user error involved, such that you're not getting a good seal, you could be trapped between The Who and Spinal Tap and never see a problem. The tinnitus is coming from something else, I'd blindly guess MP3 player/iPod. Earbuds are dangerous as hell.
 
Earbuds are dangerous as hell.

i always set the levels myself. one of my old drum teachers got his ears blasted by a good sound engineer (complete mistake) and couldn't play drums for 4 months (he plays gigs every day of the week.
this is why i will under no circumstances allow some rookie sound engineer to look after my monitor mix. they don't value my hearing as much as i do.
 
Be wary of foam, wax or hard plastic plugs: they don't seal well, they irritate the ear canal and distort the sound. Ear muffs also distort the sound and some pairs are very uncomfortable. Ear buds and noise cancelling headphones are extremely dangerous, they actually damage your hearing.

The only thing that is satisfying are custom plugs. It's well worth investing in them. If you want to play to music, use comfortable closed headphones over them. No shortcuts.

Check my sig.
 
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Couldn't agree more. I'm using this:

exinore%20er15%20flexcomfort.JPG


It's the best investment in music I ever did. Ever. No fancy drum will ever make up for hearing loss and enjoyment of music, both the music you make and that of your fellow musicians.

Do yourself a favor and buy custom plugs. Thunderstix is right, there are no shortcuts.
 
Be wary of foam, wax or hard plastic plugs: they don't seal well,

Sorry and all, i'd debate the SOFT foam as i pointed out, The seal quite well when used corrected. They also tend to be far less irritating too, yet agree they are still not as good as custom fit units in certain aspects.


Ear muffs also distort the sound

100% agree these soft foam inserts do not EVENLY attenuate the sound at all frequencies. Think of these foam inserts like passive sound equalizers that are higher at cutting upper frequencies than lower ones as you travel down the frequency spectrum.


noise cancelling headphones are extremely dangerous, they actually damage your hearing.

Never knew that, never used them at the range either. Thanks for the tip.

Agree, custom is a great way to go, especially if they have been designed to evenly attenuate the sound at all frequencies.
 
Couldn't agree more. I'm using this:

exinore%20er15%20flexcomfort.JPG


It's the best investment in music I ever did. Ever. No fancy drum will ever make up for hearing loss and enjoyment of music, both the music you make and that of your fellow musicians.

Do yourself a favor and buy custom plugs. Thunderstix is right, there are no shortcuts.

Apparently only people who actually tried custom plugs know their true value.
Not only are they safe, they also improve the quality of sound and the ease of playing. Best investment indeed. I even got two pairs.

I see yours are 15dB. I have both 15 and 25 dB and strongly advise 25 dB. I keep 15 dB only when playing with a closed headphone. In addition I wear them on parties and other loud environments. No one notices and I feel perfectly at ease.
 
that's very good advice thunderstix. i will have to get some 25 attenuations made when i have money. are there any companies you specifically recommend for them? i will probably get multiple pairs for different settings. i.e. one for dance gigs, one for rock clubs.
 
Usually companies offer 15 dB and 25 dB protection. As a drummer, 15 dB is only very useful for practicing purposes as Thunderstix said. 15 dB in live situations, no matter what type of music, is simply not enough.

As for brands, here in the Netherlands its usually only Exinore or a specific optician's brand. I've been using Exinore for a long time, they're great.
 
ok thanks. the plugs i use at the moment are 25 but they aren't custom moulded so they obviously won't perform as well.
 
Mine are also from Exinore. Many companies provide the same plugs because they're all based on the patented ER filter. In Europe that is.

You don't really need different filters. Remember that regular plugs attenuate 35 dB in the high frequencies and zero in the lowest. So 25 dB is not excessive, unless you're playing with closed headphones which on average attenuate another 10 dB. Over 25 dB you start to lose definition and you'll be playing too loud. 15 dB is quite low, also during practice.

Btw, you can change the filters for free once, shortly after you buy a pair and think you made a mistake. If you change filters often, the seal will loosen. In that case it's better to buy an extra pair of plugs. Check my sig to learn how to get a 2nd pair for free. Don't skimp on this. And wear them in loud bars and at parties, from beginning till end. Any environment above 85 dB is damaging. Parties and concerts run at 110 dB, acoustic rock drums and loud bars at 100 dB, acoustic jazz drums at 90 dB.
 
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