Hearing Problems

Hey I just wanted to ask around how many of you suffer under hearing problems or anything like that. maybe add how long you have been playing the drum. i am 17 and play the drums for about 4 years, but i fear that someday i will have hearing damages, how do you handle this problem what do you recommend?
 
I think I might have a bit of hearing damage, nothing to major yet though (I'm also 17).

About two years ago I started using the Vic Firth Stereo Isolation Headphones, and they're great!!. I can plug them into a metronome or a cd player (yeah I'm pretty old fashioned, no ipod) and i can have the volume nice a quiet and still hear the music/click. In a live situation I use Skull Screws ear plugs. They're kinda ugly but their also really easy to insert and are very convenient, and don't just block the Hi frequencies. Probably not as good as some ones out there, but they get the job done.

Definitely try and use hearing protection when your practicing. Your ears will thank you later.

-Jonathan
 
Always use ear-protection. Concerts, practice, everything! It's with ears you listen to the music, and I know some people with tinitus, and they hate it. I've been using hearing-protection since day one, and I havent got any problems with my hearing, and I've been playing for 7-8 years now.
 
Yes, I am one of the ignorant ones.... Been playing for over 25 years and always thought I was "too cool" for earplugs or hearing protection of any kind. Now I guess I'm too cool to hear anything but this incessant ringing in my ears. Sometimes it's not too bad and I can ignore it for the most part, but other times I'm nearly driven mad by it. It's just a constant non-stop tone about the same frequency of a telephone ring, which is probably where they get the term "ringing in my ears" from... It never stops and every so often and to my great discomfort it will abruptly change frequency. I say discomfort because it's not painful, but very unnerving and breaks my concentration on whatever I happen to be doing at the time...
Please ALWAYS use hearing protection!!!!!
 
I've used ear protection pretty consistently over the 12 years that I've been playing, and I understand its importance, but I've noticed that when I wear earplugs, I'll tend to hit the drums harder than I should. I just have to relax and remind myself that the drums and cymbals are plenty loud when I use my regular technique (i.e. hitting the snare drum in the center instead of using rimshots, riding on crash cymbals with the tip of the stick instead of the shoulder). I also wear earplaugs whenever I go to a concert; I try to keep a 30-pack in my car at all times.
 
OK listen up if you can, it's Dec.10, 2009 and tonite I'm telling the leader of the band I'm in that I'm going to quit the band due to lack of hearing even though I've been using hearing aids for about a year, they don't help(long story) so PLEASE protect your ears. By the way I've been playing for 45 years and I'm really going to miss it.
 
OK listen up if you can, it's Dec.10, 2009 and tonite I'm telling the leader of the band I'm in that I'm going to quit the band due to lack of hearing even though I've been using hearing aids for about a year, they don't help(long story) so PLEASE protect your ears. By the way I've been playing for 45 years and I'm really going to miss it.

Sorry, you'll have to speak up :)

Seriously bromasi, sorry to hear that. Hopefully hearing loss technology will advance soon and get you back on the horse.

In the 80s I was playing in loud bands and went looking for ear plugs. I tried a few out but they made the music sound terrible. It lost the high end sparkle. I understand that these days there's much improved hearing protection that reduces the decibels while retaining the quality of the sound.

So now I have tinnitus. To be fair, the worst my ears ever rang was after sitting up the front at a Rainbow concert so decent plugs are useful when seeing loud bands too. I've also read that it's damaging to have MP3 players cranked up.
 
Only ear plugs are not enough.

If you can muffle your bass drum and put silencers on the drums that helps aswell.

When I practice I put Husqvarna ear muffs on. Yes, ear MUFFS! (It also helps me forget about the annoying sympathetic snare buzz caused by the bass drum and tom-toms).

I allows me to put earphones under them to listen my i-pod (when I play along to songs) or listen to the metronome.

Bring ear plugs if you gig or go to watch a live concert.

If you jam with a band, try practising acoustic or with less amplification as possible.

Ear plugs are okay, they just aren't the only thing that you can do.

Ideally, if you practise with a band, you should be able to hear each other comfortably with-out any hearing damage, with no-one trying to "overtake" in volume (it causes a vicous circle of other people playing more loudly and that is no good).

Jazz bands I think would find that easy, acoustic pianos, brass, bass and guitar can be loud enough, the drumkit is the one that tends to take over in volume, but nothing so muffling can't solve.
 
wo so actually this is a problem many drummers have to fight with
do you think one should use ear plugs even when practising with a pad?

when i play with my band i take ear plugs PLUS vic firth head phones, but i still fear for my ears
 
Wear ear plugs. I didn't.
Long story short, I've played drums for 50 years Through the 80s it was 6 nights a week.
I noticed ringing that wouldn't go away, then I noticed my stereo was off, would have to crank one side a little louder than the other. Audiologist said she could fix it with outpatient surgery in 1992. Surgery went bad, leaving left ear permanently deaf and I couldn't walk for several weeks (balance was gone). To top it off, the ringing never stopped!
I tried to play one weekend in 1994, sitting in with a local band, couldn't hear anyone talk until the following Tuesday. I could tell they were talking but the voices were all static. That was the last time I played with a band.
My right ear has gone bad enough that for many situations I wear a hearing aid.
Believe it or not, I still play, softer for sure, and do my own thing on a custom set playing melodic arrangements I come up with. I've been lucky enough to do some clinics and solo concerts. (Check out Youtube (rdrummer322)).
Wear ear plugs.
 
Hearing protection is a must. Being a fan of car audio when I was a teen in the '80s, I constantly had 120+ db sound systems throughout that span and I wasn't afraid to crank it up. I rarely wore hearing protection when I first started playing drums, but now I always do when I practice. I mainly play at church now (low volume), so I keep it toned way down.

But even outside of drumming, any noise exposure over 85 db can hurt your ears. So if you are weed wacking or running a chain saw, shooting a gun, or playing in a loud band, please wear hearing protection.

I say all of this because I am the safety manager in a very loud aluminum extrusion plant and we ended up with 9 recordable incidents this year because of people not wearing hearing protection or not wearing it correctly. It doesn't matter what causes the hearing loss (work related or not) the company ends up getting the blame for it.
 
I've been playing drums for 8 years and was born with hearing damage, so when I wanted to play drums to begin with we had to make sure it wasn't going to affect my hearing any more.

Basically, what the audiology professionals said, is that so long as you use hearing protection if you're in really loud situations and take care, then you'll be fine.
I have my hearing tested every year and it's exactly the same 4 months ago as it was before I started. (and I play every day)
 
Only ear plugs are not enough.

If you can muffle your bass drum and put silencers on the drums that helps aswell.

When I practice I put Husqvarna ear muffs on. Yes, ear MUFFS! (It also helps me forget about the annoying sympathetic snare buzz caused by the bass drum and tom-toms).
Properly inserted foam-type ear plugs offer more protection than ear muffs. They also attenuate the sound more evenly across the frequencies.
 
Yes, I am one of the ignorant ones.... Been playing for over 25 years and always thought I was "too cool" for earplugs or hearing protection of any kind. Now I guess I'm too cool to hear anything but this incessant ringing in my ears. Sometimes it's not too bad and I can ignore it for the most part, but other times I'm nearly driven mad by it. It's just a constant non-stop tone about the same frequency of a telephone ring, which is probably where they get the term "ringing in my ears" from... It never stops and every so often and to my great discomfort it will abruptly change frequency. I say discomfort because it's not painful, but very unnerving and breaks my concentration on whatever I happen to be doing at the time...
Please ALWAYS use hearing protection!!!!!

I can totally relate, the ringing will drive you insane. I have to sleep with the tv on or some white noise in the background. I played drums for a few years when i was a teenager and quit up until about a year ago but between drums, blaring car stereos and working around jet aircraft for 16 years,many days without wearing hearing protection( i was young and invincible) I'm paying for it now and i just turned 37. We have to get yearly hearing tests for my job and i can look at my chart and see the decline over the years,most of it in the mid tones(female vocal range, lol at least i have an excuse for ignoring the wife "sorry baby , didnt hear you")

anyway,protect your ears or it will catch up with you
 
Properly inserted foam-type ear plugs offer more protection than ear muffs. They also attenuate the sound more evenly across the frequencies.

I don't quite agree on your statement. Audio frequencies not only just enter the ear canal, but they are also very much induced through the bones directly around the ear. Wearing the correct ear muffs or phones will protect both of these areas. I found Vic Firth's muffs, not their active headphones, have a very flat response and drums sound very natural through them but of course at a very attenuated level. Playing drums for 49 years of my life and also being a competitive hand gun shooter, I have to be very protective of my hearing. With the work that I'm involved in, I see my audiologist two to three times yearly just to make sure my hearing is still somewhat flat, response wise. My girlfriend working many years in the banking field operating a "proof" machine lost a lot of sensitivity in her mid range response that she'' never get back.

Dennis
 
At a minimum I wear good plugs (not foam ones, the nicer Hearo's), or I wear Isolation headphones. Already done some damage to my ears from guitar and being young and stupid, so I don't wanna do any more. The only time I don't wear ear protection is when I'm tuning and need to hear real subtle differences, but as soon as I start hitting the skins, the plugs go in.
 
I'm 14, been playing for about 3 years, and I definatley think I'm going to go deaf. It was only about a year or two ago when I realized I should buy some headphones so I got Vic Firth Peltor headphones. The problem is that they aren't too good so I turn the music up way too loud. I have a job, I could buy better ones, but I'm too cheap.
 
I am 17 to, and I play drums since 6-7 years. I may feel something different in my hearing since then but it's probably normal (it's part of musician's life).
The best tool to keep a sharp hearing is to protect it sooner as possible. Use some cheap foam earplugs or something like that, but the best is to protect yourself and to diminish noise around you.
Personally, I use custom-made earplugs, with -25dB filters in it. It's awesome! Purely magical! They're shaped to your ears by a hearing-aid specialist with silicone, and then sent to a company that make these types of earplugs, and finally back to you two weeks later in a little case. The only disadvantage is that it costs CAN$235.
Most of professionals (and semi-professionals) use these earplugs. If you still want to hear well at the age of 30, follow my advice: buy these earplugs, it's worth the price and you honestly won't regret it! Your ears are your working tools, protect them.
 
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