Musician wins landmark ruling over ruined hearing

[swillafew]

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Hearos/

What I have kept in the change pocket of my wallet since I resumed playing in 2000.

I used to get hearing tested at work, it was for an air traffic controller's medical certificate. I asked what my score was, and I was told "zero loss of hearing".

At the same time I was the bass guitarist in a rock band as hobby, and the only guy in the band who would think to wear them. Other guys would be curious, put some in for one song, and pull them right back out because "they couldn't hear anything". According to the technician at work, I could hear everything. You get to make a choice.

[TheGoyWonder]

Another Cohencidence.

[Leland]

After 6 years in the Navy in the gunnery field, and 15 years in an Army reserve band I went to the VA to try to get help with hearing aids. So after 15 years of sitting in close proximity to drummers, trumpet players, etc. the VA concluded that it couldn't be determined that my hearing loss was service related, and refused to help me out getting hearing aids. So according to the VA playing music doesn't adversely effect your hearing.

That sucks. The Marine D&B regularly has OSHA people come and test our rehearsal space to see how loud we get, and they've always remarked along the lines of (and I'm paraphrasing), "Holy crap!"

I haven't checked if the VA would rate any of my hearing loss as service-related (I have only minimal loss anyway, partly because I used earplugs for most indoor rehearsals and performances), but at least we've got OSHA paperwork to back up any claims.

[edit to shill earplug brands]
I've used:
- basic foam earplugs (super quiet, good enough for rifle qualification, but very muffling)
- Westone custom earplugs (at least I think that was the brand)
- Etymotic basic musicians' earplugs
- Earasers brand, in regular and extra strength

My favorite so far are the Earasers. They're comfortable, sound natural, and are still pretty quiet.

[WC8KCY]

I went to University and performed in various ensembles with a close-friend clarinetist who always, always dons ear plugs. I thought he was being silly and eccentric, until...

...an ensemble I played trumpet with became seriously short on clarinetists. I made the director that I could pinch-hit on clarinet, and have been there ever since. What a shocking revelation. I got redeployed on the Clarinet II book, and my seating position was one row ahead of the lead trumpet section.

It had never occurred to me as a trumpeter how needlessly loud the trumpet section could become going after that "commercial" sound. What I thought was musical and artistic as a trumpeter came off as downright nasty and utterly obnoxious when seated one row ahead of my former section mates.

I use the Howard Leight AirSoft earplugs. It's amazing what musical detail you CAN hear once the roar and din are attenuated.

[Leland]

It's amazing what musical detail you CAN hear once the roar and din are attenuated.

This applies when conducting a loud ensemble, too.

It takes some knowledge of how the room's accountings change the balance, plus awareness of how one's earplugs color the sound (even the best aren't immune to having a slightly unnatural frequency curve), but it really helps.

I think there's a threshold -- let's arbitrarily say 90 dB -- above which you start losing detail and it all becomes just a louder blend of noise. It gets hard to hear details in the inner voices, and individuals who are being a little too "enthusiastic" somehow don't sound any louder than anyone else.

You can hear it in rehearsal recordings, too. Record a session, then play it back with the volume turned moderately low; you'll hear some sections, or maybe individual players, stick out in ways that you hadn't noticed while you were in the same room.

Keeping the noise down to less painful levels is great for your attitude, too. It's much easier to stay calm and relaxed, which -- IMO -- is the kind of conductor most players respond to best.

[WC8KCY]

Keeping the noise down to less painful levels is great for your attitude, too. It's much easier to stay calm and relaxed, which -- IMO -- is the kind of conductor most players respond to best.

Hear, hear!

As a clarinetist contending with any ensemble playing excessively loud, there's always that temptation--or compulsion--to play sharp in an effort to cut through the roar and din of all those standing waves. Many clarinet players don't even realise they're doing it, and it's a tough habit to break. Before long, the trumpets notice that they're flat relative to the upper reeds and tune upward...and it's a sharpness arms race from then on out to stay afloat on top of the prevailing pitch, unless and until the conductor intervenes.

And speaking of detail..the sonic opulence of a balanced tuba section with both bass and contrabass instruments also gets lost in the noise of an ensemble playing way too loud.