I have one evangelical topic: hearing damage. Since I wrote an essay extolling the virtues of feedback, I wanted to add one thing. If you are sitting right in front of your amp playing loud enough to feed back, you should be wearing ear plugs. Hearing damage is a serious thing.

Talk to the older musicians, particularly those in their 50's and 60's. Talk quietly and you will notice how many of them have lost much of their hearing.

Musician's Earplugs

The reason they are hard of hearing is from playing too many loud gigs. It's particularly common among guitarists, drummers, bass players, and horn players who work big band gigs. Even symphonic musicians face the problem of hearing loss.

I became serious about hearing loss when I went to get my ears checked about 10 years ago and found out that I had lost some high-frequency hearing in my right ear. I immediately bought "musician’s earplugs."

Musician’s earplugs are custom molded to your ear and have a small, acoustically precise baffle that lets sound in. You hear the exact same frequencies all across the spectrum, but much quieter. These ear plugs do not change the sound other than to make it quieter. I use them all the time on gigs. I even wear them when I go to concerts.

I was unable to wear those little foam earplugs while playing, because everything sounded so muffled that I couldn't hear well enough to play. But, the musician’s plugs let me hear the music clearly, and they prevent hearing damage.

The only drawback to the musician's plugs is that they are expensive -- about $125.00. But, if you play regularly in a loud musical environment, they are well worth the price. You only have one pair of ears, and if they go bad, they can not be fixed.

To get musician’s earplugs, contact any audiologist in your hometown. They will know exactly what you are talking about when you ask them. You will be offered a choice of 15 or 25 decibel plugs. I use the 15 decibel plugs and have found that is almost always enough sound reduction.

This is another one of those just do it things. Don’t let your ears get ruined.

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