So there I was standing in front of a stack of speakers getting ready to shoot some pictures of Kim Wilson performing with the Fabulous Thunderbirds when a guy makes his way directly in front of me, cigarette in his mouth, a beer in one hand and a camera in the other. He tries to take a few shots only to realize his cigarette is getting in the way and he really can't press his shutter with the beer in his hand.

He finally throws the cigarette to the ground, grinds it out with his foot and puts his beer cup on the stage. He takes a few pictures and looks to where I am now crouching below the stage, patiently waiting for him to get out of my way. He leans over and says something, the stack of speakers looming above us. I shake my head, letting him know I don't understand. He leans in closer and says something else. I can barely make it out but I think he's asking me if I got any good shots. I shake my head again, lift my hair and point to my ears. He sees my fluorescent green earplugs and starts laughing. He leans in real close and shouts (in french), "What's the matter you don't like the music?" I explain that I have been here for two days shooting pictures of most of the shows. He laughs again and says, "So? This is a festival. You can't go to a concert and wear earplugs." He walks away grinning.

A few months ago I thought the same thing. Now, I only wish the damn ringing in my ears would stop. I have tinnitus. I will never attend a concert or a live gig again without wearing earplugs. And, most probably, this ringing will never go away.

It has been reported that more than 360,000 Canadians experience ringing, hissing, whistling, or at times, a roaring or buzzing in their ears. Tinnitus is defined as hearing noise in the ears when there is no noise coming from the outside. The majority of tinnitus sufferers also have some level of hearing loss.

Many people experience ringing in their ears after attending a loud concert. This lasts a few hours and usually goes away by itself. This is called TS - Temporary Threshold Shift - which is really another way of saying temporary hearing loss. When you have TTS, it is a signal that you've exposed your ears to too much noise. Do this often enough and you may end up with permanent hearing loss.

Exposure to loud noise is the number-one cause of hearing loss. Musicians, for obvious reasons, are at high risk. But what about concert goers? Musicians are surrounded by loud music, rehearsing regularly and playing live gigs on a regular basis. You, on the other hand, only go to a handful of concerts a year so how can you be at risk for hearing loss?

Well, let's look at this common scenario. First, you go to a concert. The next day you spend an hour or so mowing your lawn. Then you decide to put on the CD you bought at the concert and you crank up the volume for those few songs you just love. Later that night you go out with some friends to a local nightclub. In the space of 24 hours you've managed to expose your ears to high levels of noise on numerous occasions. Your ears need time to recover from this.

Eighty to 85 decibels is considered the highest level of safe noise. Exposure to any noise above this level on a regular basis may cause hearing loss. Concerts are rated at about 110 dB to130 dB in noise level and can cause damage after two hours, at the lower level, of exposure per day. And this doesn't mean two hours of consecutive listening - four one-half hour sessions in the same day will affect your ears in the same way. If you use the noise level of a quiet residential area as a reference point, a rock concert in the 110-130 dB level is 128 to 512 times louder. For every 3 dB increase, your exposure doubles!

What is hearing loss anyway? Let's first explain how hearing works. Sound waves, which move through the air, are captured by the outer ear. They are then converted to vibrations in the middle ear and electrical impulses in the inner ear. Inside the inner ear (which is really part of the brain) is the cochlea. The cochlea is covered in tiny hair cells that then transmit the impulses to the brain by way of the auditory nerve. The brain translates these impulses to sound information.

Hearing loss occurs when the hair cells of the cochlea are damaged by sudden blasts of noise or by continued exposure to loud noise. These hair cells are not always permanently damaged. If you remove yourself from the loud noise environment, the hairs will recover to a certain extent but they never come back to the way they were before the exposure to the noise. It is important to know that damage to the hair cells is cumulative. If you continue to expose yourself to loud noise, even if it isn't every day, and the cells haven't had a chance to recover, they will become more damaged. Eventually the damage will become permanent and irreversible.

There are a number of things you can do to protect your ears. The obvious one is to avoid loud noises as often as you can. Musicians should take considerable precaution if they want to continue to enjoy the music they play. It is the high frequency hearing that goes first with hearing loss. And, it often goes undetected. Many musicians do not realize they are not hearing their music the way it actually sounds. Many with hearing loss have pitch perception problems - they hear one note as another. How will that affect your abilities as a musician?

So for musicians, earplugs are a good solution. Unfortunately, regular earplugs muffle the music more than they should and if you're a musician you want to be able to hear the music, not mask or block it out. It is possible, though, to hear the music properly and protect your ears at the same time.

A British company, Etymotic Research, manufactures earplugs specifically for musicians. Various models are available but each includes an attenuator that filters incoming sounds and reduces the intensity of the sound. These earplugs maintain the high fidelity of the music and do not compromise listening ability.

Two models - ER-15 and ER-25 - are most commonly used. The ER-15 attenuates (lowers the intensity of) incoming signals by 15dB and the ER-25 reduces levels by 25dB. These are in the shape of small buttons, which need to be snapped to custom-made vinyl or silicon earplugs. An audiologist creates a mould of your ears and the earplugs are then created from these moulds. The attenuator buttons are attached to the plugs. The cost is between $300-$400 per pair. Pretty steep you may think but as a musician how much income could you lose if you couldn't play anymore due to loss of hearing?

Two other models are also available - the ER-9 and the ER-20 HI FI TM Earplugs. The ER-9 offers 9 dB of attenuation for musicians who do not need the higher levels of attenuation offered by the other models. The ER-20 was developed as a lower-cost alternative and is commonly used by high school marching bands. The attenuator fits in a one-size- fits-all silicon, triple-flange tip that can be removed and washed. They use a tuned resonator and acoustic resistor to give flat attenuation. They must be inserted properly into the ear in order to get maximum protection. Since custom-made moulds and plugs are not required for these, they are less expensive. The average cost in Canada is $40 per pair.

Should concert goers wear earplugs? I think so. But I can't be objective about this subject. Based on the reaction I received from the "amateur" photographer at the Fabulous Thunderbirds concert, I know it is a very "uncool" thing to do. I think it's more of a "macho" thing though, since I get the same reaction from most of my male friends! You have to be tough and take the loud music without complaining about the volume level - especially now that we're middle aged. Going to a live gig and telling people that it's too loud is the same as shouting to the world, "I've finally become my parents! I'm old!"

So if fans think it is an uncool thing to do, I can just imagine what musicians think about the subject. From my research, I have found a few comments from musicians who say the high volume is part of the package and to listen to music that way is cool. But, there are more articles to be found quoting famous musicians who are adamant about the importance of wearing earplugs.

Pete Townsend of The Who was one of the first rock musicians to bring awareness to the subject of hearing loss. He now lives with partial deafness due to an explosion when Keith Moon blew up his drum set live on stage during a concert in the 1960s (he also suffered hearing loss from loud music from the amps). Paul Dean of Loverboy fame, was diagnosed with tinnitus in 1972 and he has had to learn to adjust to the constant hissing in his ears.

Other "famous" musicians who now live with some degree of hearing loss or who suffer from tinnitus due to loud music are Neil Young, Barbra Streisand, Paul Schaffer, Englebert Humperdinck, Dave Pirner, Bob Mould, Jeff Beck, Sting, Eric Clapton, Ted Nugent, Bono, Phil Collins, Cher and Ozzy Ozborne. The lists go on; as much as 37 per cent of rock musicians are reported to have incurred hearing loss. Believe it or not, that number is 52 per cent for classical musicians.

A veteran of the Canadian blues scene, Roy "Doc" Dawson, of the Streamliners based in New Brunswick says, "I've been on stage for about 28 years now and have never used earplugs. I've noticed somewhat of a loss over the years - not too bad, but some - but I'm too stubborn to concede."

Doc says he uses the same excuse he hears from most musicians who won't wear earplugs - that you can't hear properly with them. "Truth be told, I should have worn them before and should be wearing them now ... but ... I'm still too stubborn," he concludes.

Based on the high levels of decibels registered from loud, amplified music, the maximum exposure time per gig should be no more than 15 minutes in order to avoid hearing loss. That, musicians will say, is impossible. The only way around that is to wear earplugs. By the way, cotton balls or tissue paper are absolutely useless since they only attenuate less than 7 dB.

Coming back to the concert goers, if you bring your children along, I would like to stress the importance of protecting their ears also. At the same festival where I encountered the "cool" photographer, we saw dozens of parents with children. Very few of the children were wearing earplugs. At one point I saw a boy of about eight or nine years old holding his hands over his ears while burying his grimacing face in his mother's tummy. She gently rocked him but continued to watch the show - about six or seven feet from the speakers. I had an eight-pack of plugs in my pocket so I walked over to them and offered her a pair. The look of pain immediately left as soon as he put them in. She thanked me a number of times but I know that had I not been there with the plugs, she would have continued to watch the show, oblivious to her son's pain.

So, as I continue to attend live concerts and to go to live gigs, I will continue to bring my earplugs. I currently use the ER-20s and I love them. Since music is such a big part of my life, I will invest in the more expensive, specialized earplugs so that I can continue to enjoy the great blues talent Canada has. I suggest you think about it too.

Copyright 2002 Andie Maranda

Resources, reference and suggested reading:

www.musiciansclinics.com
The Musician's Clinics of Canada offers this incredibly informative site with info on hearing loss in relation to musicians. They have clinics in Toronto and Hamilton and specialize in hearing issues for musicians.

www.thfc.ca/causes.html
The Hearing Foundation of Canada

www.chs.ca/info/tinnitus.html
The Canadian Hearing Society

www.freehearingtest.com
An online resource for hearing-related products & services, as well as offering a unique online hearing test.

www.abelard.org/hear/hear/htm
This section of the site provides an interesting read on hearing damage and loud music.