Do you worry about your ears?

[jamvanman]

So, I was listening to my home stereo through headphones and had stupidly previously turned the volume right up and just about blasted my head off. Has actually left me with a very slight earache. Just one of those stupid things where you go what was I thinking!?

Anyway, got me thinking that if I was a mix engineer I'd be pretty concerned I might have done some serious damage to my hearing of upper frequencies. Do you guys worry about this, and if so what do you do to look after your ears?

 

[derekmoffat]

Yup always.
I wear ear plugs at shows, I don't listen to music loudly - only sometimes, and I wear a pair of db reducing headphones when sampling drums and stuff. Take breaks when mixing too, that helps you from hearing stuff accurately and also prevents you from going insane!

 

[jamvanman]

Yeah, really rammed home to me that I've got to be more vigilant. I do wear plugs when I go and see a band, but I probably mix too loud and should take more breaks. Same for listening on headphones. And, especially be more careful when plugging in headphones to make sure that I have the volume turned right down. Did the same thing with my JCM800 years ago but at least it wasn't right on my ears...

 

[Skinny Viking]

when I was 17 I got a severe ear infection that was so bad it perforated my ear drum. Aside from the pain which was excruciating, it left me partially deaf in that ear for a couple weeks. Ever since then I've always done whatever I can to make sure I protect my ears ... plugs at rehearsals and shows ALWAYS and I don't mix with headphones ... I barely even use earbuds for my ipod and if I do, the volume is triple checked before I even stick those fuckers in

 

[Lasse Lammert]

elacin er-15 for me every gig, every rehearsal

 

[Ashgarth]

elacin er-25 for gigs and rehearsals too.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

wow, 25 even.
I never thought the 15 would be too loud.....now I'm worried again

 

[TesticleMilkshake]

I've had reoccurring ear infections since I was a baby. I've been on so many antibiotics for such extended periods of time that I have problems with my immune system, and certain medications have also stopped treating infections. One of the worst sensations in the world is your ear drum about the rupture. Once it pops, blood and pus everywhere. :ugh:

 

[Ashgarth]

wow, 25 even.
I never thought the 15 would be too loud.....now I'm worried again

I play drums and hit HARD, also the other guys play really loud, and I decided to get them after a gig that had me with an ear ringing for a whole week, so I was so freaked out that I got the 25's hahaha

I was just too paranoid to get the 15's

 

[Derykus]

I learned to mix on headphones - definitely ruined my hearing. Luckily I can still hear up to 16khz, a couple weeks ago it was only 15khz, but I've abstained from mixing and it's come back a bit. If I must use headphones, its extremely low volume - I can still hear a finger snap. I worry more about the sounds that don't go away in the typical home - loud a/c, humming refrigerator, neighbors that constantly mow their lawns, loud talkers on the phone. Rarely go to shows. Even with plugs, I still feel it's doing damage. Ear plugs themselves feel like they do physical damage to my ear drums - they seem to make my tinnitus louder.

And yes, hearing loss sucks. But on the flip side, I've come to the conclusion that the high frequency loss isn't as bad as it may seem. Put a rude HPF on one of your favorite songs from 14khz or higher. All those frequencies are annoying as hell to me. Sometimes I put a LPF on around 12khz just for fun, and a lot of the times I find that it makes the music a lot more fun and interesting to listen to. So I try not to worry about my existing hearing loss, it only makes the tinnitus louder if I do.

Only thing you can do is be cautious, keep your levels in check, and ALWAYS have ear plugs on you.

 

[updog]

more so recently... i had a mild infection of some sort some weeks ago that happened to reach the vestibular system in my left ear interfering its function, and giving me problems with my balance for about a week. i never knew that could happen so i was scared it might be something serious (couldn't really even drive a car for several days) but according to the ear specialist it's nothing to worry about and could happen to anyone. i've been keeping my ears pretty clean after that.

 

[outbreak525]

I can't fit ear plugs into my ears due to the size of my canal being smaller than most people's. I had surgery when I was a child, thus resulting in smaller ear canals.

 

[Mago]

^ not even fitted ones?

I always rehearsed with earplugs, but only started to use them at gigs one and a half years back or so.
We didn't gig that regulary so I figured it wasn't so bad, but when I realized that I'd really like to work with my ears I also put them in for gigging.

I also mix a lot with headphones, and with my shitty broke old ass ones even pretty loud, but that's also a few years back. Now I try to always watch the level.
I don't go to a lot of concerts though, and if then I wear earplugs.

But I totally stopped listening to music on the go though, haven't used earbuds or an mp3 player in like 4 years.
I feel like that was the most relieving thing to do for my ears.
The last test I did (half a year ago or so) was pretty good considering I'm over 20


to OP:
At least you did that to your own ears. much worse if you make a mistake like that in a studio when making a headphonemix for someone else, and you crank up because you don't hear a signal, and suddenly something loud comes up, or a cable gets connection it didn't have before, or you flip a phase that was canceling before etc...
If you know yourself that you'll hit play now your ears are at least a bit prepared to take the shock, but if you sit there having no idea that you'll be skullfucked in a second then you can damage those ears permanently.