Musicians Don’t Have to Except Loss of Hearing

If you're a professional musician, your ears are your living. So you'd think musicians would be rather protective of their ears. But overall, that's not the situation. Many musicians just accept hearing loss. They believe that hearing loss is just "part of the job".

But certain new legal legislations and a concerted effort to challenge that culture finally seem to be transforming that attitude. It shouldn't ever be considered just "part of the job" to cause loss of hearing. That's especially true when there are established ways and means to safeguard your hearing without hindering your performance.

Safeguarding Your Ears in a Noisy Environment

Of course, musicians aren't the only individuals who are exposed to a noisy workplace setting. And some other professionals certainly have also developed a fatalistic approach to hearing issues brought on by loud noise. But other professions, such as construction or manufacturing, have been quicker to embrace practical levels of ear protection.

most likely this has a couple of reasons:

• A manufacturing and construction environment is replete with risk (hard hat required, or so the saying goes). So donning protective equipment is something site foremen, construction workers, and managers are more likely to be accustomed to doing.
• However harshly you're treated as an artist, there's normally a feeling that you're fortunate and that somebody would be exciting to be in your place. So many musicians just quietly cope with poor hearing protection.
• Even if a musician is performing the same music night after night, they need to be able to hear quite well. If it seems as if it might impede the ability to hear, there can be some opposition to wearing hearing protection. This resistance is typically based on misinformation, it should be noted.

This "part of the job" mindset influences more than just the musicians, regrettably. Others who work in the music industry, from roadies to bartenders, are implicitly expected to buy into what is ultimately a truly damaging mentality.

Norms Are Changing

Thankfully, that's changing for two significant reasons. A landmark legal ruling against The Royal Opera House in London is the first. While in a particular concert, a viola player was seated right in front of the brass section and subjected to over 130dB of sound. That's roughly equivalent to a full-sized jet engine!

In the majority of cases, if you had to be exposed to that amount of noise, you would be given hearing protection. But that wasn't the situation, and the viola player experienced serious hearing impairment because of that lack of protection, damage that involved long battles with tinnitus.

When the courts ruled against the Royal Opera House and handed down a ruling for the viola player, it was a very clear message that the music industry would need to take hearing protection laws seriously, and that the industry should stop thinking of itself as a special situation and instead commit to proper hearing protection for all employees and contractors concerned.

Hearing Loss Doesn't Have to be Unavoidable For Musicians

The number of people in the music industry who are afflicted by tinnitus is staggeringly high. And that's the reason that around the world there's a campaign to raise awareness.

Everyone from wedding DJs to classical music performers to rock stars and their roadies are in danger of experiencing "acoustic shock," a response to very loud noises which includes the onset of tinnitus, hyperacusis, and hearing loss. There is an increasing chance of having irreversible injury the more acoustic shock a person sustains.

Utilizing current hearing protection devices, such as specially manufactured earplugs and earmuffs, can help protect your ears without compromising the musical abilities of anyone. Your ears will be safeguarded without compromising the quality of sound.

Changing The Culture in The Music Industry

You can take advantage of the right hearing protection right now. Changing the mindset in the music industry, at this point, is the key to protecting the hearing of musicians. That's a big task, but it's one that's currently displaying some success. (the judgment against the Royal Opera House has definitely provided some urgency for the industry to pay attention to this problem).

Tinnitus is extremely common in the industry. But it doesn't have to be. It doesn't make a difference what your job is, hearing loss should never be "just part of the job".

Are you a musician? Contact us to find out how to protect your hearing without hurting your performance.