Ear Protection

barbar69

I've recently started playing guitar in a band again after a 3 year break and I had forgotten how much fun it was. I also forgot how horrible ringing ears are!

I have a pair of ER 20s I bought a few years back but I dont rate them and so dont use them much. I searched the web last night and couldn't believe all the positive reviews I found-I honestly think they're not much better than standard foam earplugs.

Can anyone recommend any other ear protectors? Ideally I'd like to avoid paying top dollar for custom made ones.

Trevor O

I bought a pair of Vater's last year in a music shop in Cork. About €20.

http://www.vater.com/newproducts/product.cfm?M=287

They're good for blocking sound but maybe too good at times. Can be a bit muffled.

southlouth type

barbar69 wrote: »

I've recently started playing guitar in a band again after a 3 year break and I had forgotten how much fun it was. I also forgot how horrible ringing ears are!

I have a pair of ER 20s I bought a few years back but I dont rate them and so dont use them much. I searched the web last night and couldn't believe all the positive reviews I found-I honestly think they're not much better than standard foam earplugs.

Can anyone recommend any other ear protectors? Ideally I'd like to avoid paying top dollar for custom made ones.

Why in gods name would you risk your hearing for the rest of your life over a few quid ? I have damaged ears from years over loud music , and from wearing cheap plugs . Go to spec savers hearing department and get a set of molded plugs made ASAP , if you are getting ringing ears its only a bad thing and you need to stop it asap before it becomes permanent .

AoifeCork

southlouth type wrote: »

Why in gods name would you risk your hearing for the rest of your life over a few quid ? I have damaged ears from years over loud music , and from wearing cheap plugs . Go to spec savers hearing department and get a set of molded plugs made ASAP , if you are getting ringing ears its only a bad thing and you need to stop it asap before it becomes permanent .

Absolutely 100% agree with this... Once the ringing starts, it will only get worse and worse.. a set of custom plugs will NOT cost over 140 and will pay for themselves after about 4 gigs... DO IT!!!!

Rigsby

southlouth type wrote: »

Why in gods name would you risk your hearing for the rest of your life over a few quid ? I have damaged ears from years over loud music , and from wearing cheap plugs . Go to spec savers hearing department and get a set of molded plugs made ASAP , if you are getting ringing ears its only a bad thing and you need to stop it asap before it becomes permanent .

I totally agree with this. People don't think twice about buying other musical accessories. Why neglect the most important one of them all ?? Hearing protection is one area where it is worth every cent to buy the best you can afford.

barbar69

Ok I may have been unclear in my original post. Im not questioning how important ear protection is for your hearing. Im just interested if anyone can recommend ear protection that can achieve even volume reduction across all frequencies.

I said I wanted to avoid paying for top dollar for custom ones because it is my understanding that the only advantages of custom moulds are comfort and removable filters-but maybe I'm wrong about that. Do custom moulded earlpugs provide the most even attenuation?

barbar69

@trevor o

Yeah they look very similar to the ER-20s I have and I too find the sound to be really muffled. Hoping to upgrade to something better.

AoifeCork

barbar69 wrote: »

Ok I may have been unclear in my original post. Im not questioning how important ear protection is for your hearing. Im just interested if anyone can recommend ear protection that can achieve even volume reduction across all frequencies.

I said I wanted to avoid paying for top dollar for custom ones because it is my understanding that the only advantages of custom moulds are comfort and removable filters-but maybe I'm wrong about that. Do custom moulded earlpugs provide the most even attenuation?

Yep they do... If you're a drummer they say anything up to 25dB is the filter you should wear, but if it's singing and playing, 9dB tops is what you should be after. The generic ones are awful for the muffling but remember you can change the filters to suit you with the custom ones at any time. Pub gigs are the worst, low ceilings etc, so I'd advise getting a good few filters with them and adjusting them until you know what is right for you.

In short-custom ones can do anything you want them too! If you eventually think you might go down the in-ear monitor route you can even enquire about getting custom ones that can double up as the moulds that connect to the monitor packs.

DublinWriter

barbar69 wrote: »

Ok I may have been unclear in my original post. Im not questioning how important ear protection is for your hearing. Im just interested if anyone can recommend ear protection that can achieve even volume reduction across all frequencies.

Is that possible?

I used to use Quies earplugs back in the day. They would completely take off the top and bottom frequencies.

barbar69

DublinWriter wrote: »

Is that possible?

I used to use Quies earplugs back in the day. They would completely take off the top and bottom frequencies.

I dont know if its possible to get perfectly even attenuation but that's what musician earplugs try to achieve I suppose-the ones I have certainly dont come close.

barbar69

@AoifeCork thanks sounds like I need to invest in customs so. I just play guitar myself, I would have thought you'd need more than 9dB to be well protected.

southlouth type

I cant recommend the custom plugs highly enough . I had the choice of 5 , 15 and 25 db filters . The fact that they are are molded from your exact ear shape makes a huge difference in comfort and blocking out the noise level . My ringing has not get any worse since i started wearing the plugs about 3 years ago , at this stage i carry them with me every where and couldnt contemplate doing a gig without them . I also recommend large pelter ear muffs for rehearsing , especially playing drums , the drums actually sound better with them on