We Wrote a Short Editorial for Musicians Magazine

We recently wrote a short editorial that was published in a local musicians magazine. Please see the full editorial that we wrote below…

Don’t Lose The Music

The younger generation of today are increasingly likely to be suffering from hearing problems related to exposure of loud noise, from increasing attendance at live concerts and festivals, to MP3 earphones turned up to the maximum and worn for long periods of time. People are just simply unaware of the damage they doing to their hearing. An average level of noise within a factory is roughly 80 – 85 dBA, this is considered to be a safe environment to be in without wearing hearing protection for up to 8 hours.

However every 3 decibels increase after 85dBA halves the amount of time you can be in that environment before there is a risk of hearing damage, so at around 90 dBA (which is equivalent to a lawn mower) we are down to 2 hours exposure and then at risk of damage to the hearing. The average gig within a pub or club around the town is around 100 -110 dBA depending on the sound system used and acoustics within the venue, at 103 dBA it is considered only safe to be in that environment without hearing protection for about 10 minutes before possible damage.

I know what you’re all thinking, ‘I’ve been playing in my band and going to gigs and I can still hear’. Yes! you can, the damage to your hearing may not come on over night but every one of us has been to gig or a club and come home and had ringing in our ears, and some of us still for the next couple of days after. The ringing noise normally goes away but the more you enter these loud environments the longer the ringing lasts for until eventually it doesn’t go away and you here it constantly, that noise is then classed as Tinnitus and once you have it, you have to get used to living with it and managing it, there is nothing that can be done to cure it.

Prevention is the only cure; at the Worcester Hearing Centre there is full range of generic and custom made earplugs that can attenuate the music to safe levels. There is also a full range of specific Musicians hearing products available, custom made in ear monitors and filtered earplugs are designed to keep the full spectrum and sound of the music but attenuate it down to safe level. Their DJ and musician clients rave over the quality of sound. Give Worcester Hearing Centre a call for more information on 01905 617803 speak to Tom, the expert in this field.