A musician's checklist: how to keep your hearing intact Music | POCKET CHANGE - Community For Drummers

A musician's checklist: how to keep your hearing intact

Musicians and sound engineers constantly put their ears and hearing at risk. Listening to loud music systematically can lead to full or partial hearing loss, but unfortunately, very little attention is paid to this problem.

We've put together a little checklist to help musicians and other pros whose work involves high sound preserve their hearing and prevent problems.

1. Control the volume in the studio. Don't turn all knobs to the right - the volume of quiet conversational speech is more than enough to listen to your material. Excessive volume when recording and mixing is dangerous not only for your ears but also for the quality of the track so you can lose the fine nuances of sound and arrangements in the mix.

2. Take care to limit the volume in rehearsals and concerts. Use earplugs or noise-canceling headphones in rehearsals. And during live performances, if possible, abandon floor monitors in favor of an in-ear monitoring system. With its help you will be able to adjust a comfortable sound level and stop "drowning out".

3. Take breaks when you work with headphones - at least 5 minutes every hour. If you listen to music on studio monitors, it is recommended that you increase the break interval to 15 minutes per hour. After a loud concert or nightclub party, it is recommended that you avoid loud noises and spare your hearing for 18 hours.

4. Check your hearing and noise levels. You can use apps to do this: for example, AuralWare's SoundMeterPlus can measure noise, and the World Health Organization's hearWHO app can check your hearing.

5. Remember that if you have the slightest concern or feeling of discomfort, you should see an audiologist - a physician with a broad specialty in ear pathology. He will help to identify hearing loss at an early stage and prescribe the necessary treatment to prevent possible problems.