Its important to take care of your hearing whether you work or volunteer as a sound tech. Taking care of your hearing is more then just protecting it, your hearing is critical to accomplishing your job well.
To start with: if you are often exposed to very loud sound and can’t avoid it, investing in a pair of custom fitted, filtering ear plugs is vital. I got my pair for $250.00 CAD. Getting your hearing checked is something to look into as well even if you don’t have noticeable hearing problems. A hearing test will give you a baseline of your hearing range.
A few years ago my wife won tickets to a concert of one of the loudest bands around (The Who). At the time we couldn’t afford even one pair of custom ear plugs so I asked her to talk to her company’s safety officer and received two pairs of earplugs with strings attached ( I learned this little trick as a teenager when I was going to many rock concerts). The plugs filter out most of the audience noise and you can listen comfortably at a safe level. Needless to say, she was shocked at how well they worked and was able to enjoy the concert as well. So even if you can’t afford custom ear plugs do purchase some inexpensive, off the shelf compression foam plugs. They work well for a few events but remember, they don’t last forever, so replace as needed.
Getting out of the noise of the city and listening to the sounds in nature is another step in protecting your hearing. Listening to the wind move through the grass or trees, water gurgling in a stream or the sounds of song birds on their own or in combination is very therapeutic for not only your ears but your soul. It helps attune your ears to the quieter sound ranges.
The quality of music you listen to on your own is also very important. By quality, I don’t just mean it’s musical quality. Highly compressed music is very difficult to listen to because your brain has to work extra hard to fill in the blanks.
How you listen to music is also significant. Cheap quality headphones or ear buds can be very damaging to your ears because you generally must run them at a much louder level. So invest in a pair of quality headphones for listening. Also, keep in mind that using headphones frequently causes a disconnect from the world around you. So take a break from using headphones and enjoy the sound in the room.
With the fact that we are exposed to noise all the time I personally hate using music as background sound. If I am playing music I prefer to actually listen to it.
Another ear healthy suggestion is silence – that is giving your ears and brain a rest. This will cause the auditory parts of the brain to rest. I’m pointing out the obvious that your ears are always functioning. You can’t just close your ears like you do your eyes. There are no “ear-lids” (although with some so-called music I wish there were, so I didn’t have to use my fingers to block it out.)
Active or critical listening as I call it, will also help you improve your skills on the mixing board. Whether you are mixing or just listening to a band play, look at each individual playing or singing and ask yourself, “can you hear each one playing in the mix”? This is easier if you are mixing because you can PFL/solo each one to hear what you are looking for then listen to the house mix. The more you do this comparison the easier it becomes.
Wide Q 