Melbourne Beats

today's age has an article linking rising hearing damage with the rise of MP3 players

http://www.theage.com.au/news/digital-m ... 93761.html

i was wondering, seeing as everyone here must listen to a lot of music, what sort of precautions do you take to protect yourself?

I never wear inner ear buds, only headphones and if im going out, i always take my own earplugs, I got the ones called hearos, they're about $30 or $40 from allans in the city and work so well, they clear out heaps of the ringing and mudiness that you get in clubs, the bass sounds tighter, you can hear people close to you talking and you leave the club with hearing intact



http://hearos.com/products-00211.htm

Get proper plugs. I've got some, definately worth the $200 I spent on them. There's an old thread somewhere around that's discussed this before.

I so have to get a pair of those...
I have been out countless times where the mid/high's are far too loud and sounds like there is someone screaming in my ears.
Hearing is damn important to all of us, and is impossible to gain back i think?
Who else here uses protection ?

When I was 6 I had a hearing test and was told I had above normal hearing. Was tested again after a 5 year DJ/gig career and was found to have slightly below average hearing.

Grrr.

marcus wrote:Get proper plugs. I've got some, definately worth the $200 I spent on them. There's an old thread somewhere around that's discussed this before.

i know, i think i might have started it. but i think its an important topic that should come up regularly. keep us vigilant. the drugs do enough we should at least look after our hearing

i think i should definately get some decent plugs, my hearing has gone down the gurgler since listening to dnb for sure. I met a guy at the first beats working thing i went to ages ago who advised me early to get some, i wish i took his advice then!

So, I'm a bit stupid with all this shit. You can hear the music, and you can hear the ppl, all while you have these in?

yup

if you want technical blaaa blaa
go here
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document ... 595&g=live
and
http://hearos.com/products-00211.htm

But will i be able to hear all the codshit ppl talk?

I like the idea of having hearing for a long time...

What I'm getting at I suppose is, why would I *not* wear these?

i have ones that drop the volume by 20 dbs and they dont lose any sound quality at all.... the only problem i have with them is that the filters face backwards so you lose a bit of quality there.
U get them specially moulded to your ears aswell...soo hopefully my ears dont get bigger

ummm you have stupid little xmas trees pointing out your ears and you won't look cool and anyone you want to pick up will run away

girl: hey u wanna dance
unprotected ear guy: whatd u say...
etc. etc.

hmmmm

...the moulded ones dont protrude out of ur ear... i dont think the christmas tree ones wood either

I got a pair of those Hearos as well (thanks for the tip Garth) and they've been great. Maybe I could get moulded ones but I'd be too worried about losing them or stepping on them.

Besides, I find some earplugs can move about when your jaw moves. The resulting bursts of sound are super annoying. At least the Hearos are flexible.

Special Hegg wrote:I find some earplugs can move about when your jaw moves.

Jaw moving too much!? maybe they weren't designed for use with pingaz... hehe

by the way those earplugs are good... only shit when you find yourself at a shit pub without then an accidentally fuck your ears over listening to music you don't even like...

it is essential

no if or buts

as for the artcle

"Because the sound is digital, listeners can crank it up louder without the distortion faced by previous technologies."

yes and no - not really true - the volume capacities are determined by the analogue stages anyhow


"And because MP3 players can store hours and hours of music, users can listen all day without stopping - producing an unending barrage of sound.

At least with older audio devices such as portable compact disc players, the listener had to stop and change the CD or restart it."

very important... every 3dB inrease in sound is a doubling in energy. this means a halving of alowed time for listening

85 dB ok for 8 hours

88 dB for 4 hours

91 for 2 hours

94 for 1 hour

97 for 1/2 hour

100 for 25 mins

103 for 15 mins

....

average nightclub - 95-115 dB (A)

not long before permanent (but subtle) damage is caused...

i kick started interesting discussion on this topic on another forum...

http://www.ragga-jungle.com/viewtopic.php?t=9851

I knew you'd come up with the technical goods Foundation Stepper. It's kinda frightening, considering most gigs I go to I'm sans plugs and tend to be drawn to the speakers

My sister's boyfriend is semi-deaf and his Mum is totally deaf. I've been trying to learn some sign language so I can converse. I hope it won't be my only means of communication when I'm old

on the other hand

-6dB for every doubling of diatance from the stack

so 115dB at the front (say 5m from the stack)

109dB 10m back

103dB 20m back

mind you there is summing (adding) when you are in point of range of more than one set of speakers

but also the scarey thing

say the font of the crownd (5m back) is getting 115dB
2.5m from the stack 121dB
1 from stack (standing next to the speakers - we have al done it id think) 127dB. that is fing loud

basically, big changes in level over small distances, when close to the source of sound. so 5 to 3 metres is much loudness differnce. but the diff between 20 and 23 metres for eg is insubstantial.

another good way to avoid damage is standing "off axis" from the PA

PA speakers "throw" usually in a 90 degree horizontal pattern. there is a sharp drop off in level (high freency level that is) when you stand off axis from that spread. works well at the prince, remember doing that for amon tobin last time... still enjoyed clarity but much less full on

some rigs are a lot more fatiguing than others.

fabric broke my ears last night..

downtime wrote:

Special Hegg wrote:I find some earplugs can move about when your jaw moves.

Jaw moving too much!? maybe they weren't designed for use with pingaz... hehe

by the way those earplugs are good... only shit when you find yourself at a shit pub without then an accidentally fuck your ears over listening to music you don't even like...

:nangs:

Sustain wrote:

downtime wrote:

Special Hegg wrote:I find some earplugs can move about when your jaw moves.

Jaw moving too much!? maybe they weren't designed for use with pingaz... hehe

by the way those earplugs are good... only shit when you find yourself at a shit pub without then an accidentally fuck your ears over listening to music you don't even like...

:nangs:

BAM!! Good call Sustain...

downtime wrote:Jaw moving too much!? maybe they weren't designed for use with pingaz... hehe

That's not as wrongtown as the joke I thought people would make...

Special Hegg wrote:

downtime wrote:Jaw moving too much!? maybe they weren't designed for use with pingaz... hehe

That's not as wrongtown as the joke I thought people would make...

We're more highbrow than you think then...

im gonna check out bunnings' ear plug range