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cyn38
Registered User
Posts: 47
(5/18/01 5:21:45 pm)
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Hear Ye, Hear
Ye, Lend me your ears!
Hi friends,
I had a very informative visit with some Doctor
friends last night and I felt compelled to share this information
with all of you. This same response is found in the thread about
'ringing in the ears' or 'tinnitis', but as I'm sure is the case,
not everyone will read the 10th response on that particular thread,
and the things I found out are important enough that I wanted to
post this for the general masses.
It may not apply to you,
you may already know all this stuff, but if it helps even one person
who didn't know, then it's worth repeating 
Here then, is a copied version of what I learned from
several Doctor friends about musicians caring for and protecting
their ears.
--cyn, RN
As promised, I had a long visit
with several of the ENT Doctors at work last night.
The
normal human ear can withstand 90 db for 8 hours. 90 db ia like
sitting next to a loud vacuum-cleaner. The ear can be exposed to 100
db for 4 hours. A loud jack-hammer would be approx 110 db, and isn't
recommended past 2 hours. Though it's possible, hearing loss doesn't
usually occur until 110db, and most of the time, your own practice,
and/or that of the full orchestra roaring away, doesn't exceed 110db
for any extended period of time. However, (and this is
IMPORTANT)...the idea of ear protection is still
mandatory!!!
The very fact that you're musicians and depend
heavily upon your ears in order to do your job, dictates that you
always protect them from the least amount of trauma. I posed the
scenario of a full section of brass blaring toward your ear on a
pretty regular basis, and was admonished to very clearly advise all
of you (especially orchestra memebers) to ALWAYS wear an ear plug(s)
to protect your ear from acoustic damage.
Now a word about
ear plugs, straight from the Docs that deal with people every day
who are subjected to loud sounds as part of their jobs: The little
foam plugs are fine for most settings, perhaps even for you if you
sit far enough away from the horns If you're still concerned, or
you're lucky enough to sit right by those guys, then a custom-fit
ear mold would be the better choice. These can be made for just one
ear, or both, but the great thing about them is that built into them
are little holes that allow much of the sound to be filtered down to
an acceptable level. You'll still hear all the important stuff you
need to, (though as mentioned in recent threads, being able to hear
various and sundry maestros may or may not be among those things you
want to hear), a filtered sound instead of a distorted sound will
allow you to tune, blend with others, balance...all those things
that are the essense of what we do in this business.
And
here's good news: Of the three ENT's I 'interviewed', the concensus
was that it is very rare that they have seen(non-rock band)
musicians suffering hearing loss or even long-term tinnitus. Their
advice was that if you're someone that's currently suffering from
'ringing', then you should:
(a) check in with your doctor and
bring up these points
(b) get a baseline hearing test. Down the
road if you do develop any hearing loss, it will help in a
disability/liability situation
(c)investigate getting a custom
fit ear mold to wear in whichever ear faces the brass. You might not
need it every concert, but it'll come in handy when the brass show
up in force!
Still have questions? These Docs are dear
friends, and I'd be happy to take back questions if you have them.
cynsymphony@aol.com |
zambocello
Registered
User
Posts: 594
(5/20/01 1:34:40
am)
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Re: Hear Ye,
Hear Ye, Lend me your ears!
The dB levels and durations you mention sound like OSHA standards.
Those standards are pretty much meant to keep you from blowing out
your ears in one day. I'm inclined to believe that if you sit next
to a loud vacuum cleaner for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, your
hearing will suffer in the long run.
Anyone who has played
the Turangalela Symphony knows that over 110 dB makes for problems
in about 2 seconds and that 2 hours would be REALLY bad.
I
know several symphonic musicians with hearing loss that is probably
work-related. Every full-time tuba player I know has a degree of
hearing loss, from their own sound! (Their bell is right next to
their own ear.)
I'm no doctor (wait, yes I am! -- but not an
MD) but my opinions are based on a bit of experience and serious
observation.
BTW, I'm curious what a doctor or a physicist
would say about the difference in energy level and the wearing out
of the ear machinery based on the complication of the sound wave as
opposed to merely the dB level. Some sounds seem more stressful than
others, even at the same dB level. Also, to be a little to the side
of the brass does not lower the dB that much, but greatly lessens
the pain. What is there about being in the "blast zone" that causes
greater discomfort?
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sarah
schenkman
Registered User
Posts:
367
(5/20/01 7:45:40 am)
Reply
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Re: being in the
"blast zone"
I was there in the blast zone last night. We played our last
concert of the season - Pops concert with Ben E. King. Boy was his
band loud. Wish I could've gotten up and danced with his back-up
singers.
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cellochris99
Registered
User
Posts: 186
(5/21/01 4:41:31
am)
Reply
|
Re: Hear Ye,
Hear Ye, Lend me your ears!
I'm not a doctor or physicist, but in my opinion, I do think that
certain types of sounds can and do cause more damage than others.
Our hearing response is not the same(not flat) through all
frequencies. Our ears are particularly sensitive in the middle
range(1kz-voice, and trumpet range) and not much below 30 hz(lower
than double bass extended) and above 18kz(cymbal). In other words,
110 decibal blast at 1kz(trumpet) right in your ear would probably
injure and deafen you, whereas the same volume at a much lower
frequency wouldn't. The fact that it's more painful in the blast
zone is that the decibel pressure is much higher and focused right
on your eardrum, since the bell's purpose is to "laser beam" the
sound in a nice focused bullet at wherever it's pointing at-(you).
I've read that there are certain types of sounds that REALLY
put some rip on your lobes. The worst type of sound is
electro-mechanical type soundwaves, such as am amplifier and speaker
while clipping(distorting) at mid-to high frequencies. You usaully
don't run into that in much unless you frequent rock concerts or
play in a band. And, you don't have to have an amp cranked up to 10
for it to distort either! Under- powered amps and cheap speakers can
be deafening you while you don't even realize it, since your getting
an unnatural, incompleted(truncated) soundwave that our ears were
never indended to process. I play keyboard here at home alot, and
I'm using a lousy amp that distorts the sound at certain frequencies
around 1kz and up, at almost any volume. After about an hour my ears
really hurt, and it's not loud either. I've used a better amp that
doesn't distort, and I played for hours with no ear
burn.
But, in the acoustic instrument realm, complex midrange
sounds with alot of higher harmonics and distortion(loud cymbals and
high brass) would do more damage quicker, than anything else.
Chris
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