How much hearing damage does it take to truly affecting your production abilities?

Harry Hughes

Harry Hughes

  ‬‬
Apr 25, 2009
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Always been wondering this for a while.
I mean, hell, I would think almost everyone would have slight hearing damage, but because everyone must have that tiny amount of damage no matter how well their hearing is protected, ultimately even slight flaws in mixes that come as a result of this go totally unnoticed by everyone.
I'm sure as kids, none of you knew to constantly wear ear plugs when around lawn mowers your parents might have been using.
You would have been exposed to loud sounds of automobiles, surely.
I know when I was a kid I had been around loud noisy lawn mowers, had been around noisy intersections with busy traffic and what not.
Hell, Andy Sneap himself is in a band, and I'd be quite sure even with the best ear plugs possible, ear damage is not entirely escapable if you're in a gigging band with ultra loud stuff surrounding you.
Hell, I can't hear 20Khz as it is, my hearing seems to stop at 19.9Khz.
I know for about 2 times a week for a few months I used to never wear ear plugs even in band rehearsal rooms and I imagine I have slight hearing damage from that (I always wear ear plugs now) but I'm hoping the extent of it is not enough to truly affect mixing.
So, anyone have any ideas exactly at what point and extent of hearing damage would start to really affect mixing/production in general?
 
Hard to say since you can learn to compensate for things! But I'll say this dude, you're pretty lucky in being able to hear even up to 19.9, I know my hearing is shot that high! (not like I really care, cuz fuck all lives up there musically) Honestly though, I don't think it's ever too late, just start wearing earplugs at all times (this isn't directed at you specifically Petrovsk) and become a new man!

EDIT: I don't literally mean "all times" of course, use your discretion :loco:
 
^Actually, I just tested, I can actually hear 20Khz still, but it's really faint and it sounds like it would take not much more hearing damage before I lose 20KHz completely.
I'm fucking glad I've been wearing ear plugs regularly for the last 3 years now.
You're right, just as we have to compensate for our studio monitors, we would have to compensate for hearing damage, but it must be a fuck ton harder to compensate for hearing damage AND studio monitors than it is to have excellent hearing and compensate for studio monitors.
 
Protect your ears as often as possible, but it's important to remember that everyone hears and perceives sound differently, so it's futile to sit there and worry about what's missing from the top end of your audition. One of my teachers in school was completely missing the upper octave, and he seemed to get by just fine.

Btw, this is the Fletcher-Munson/Equal Loudness curve. It shows spl vs frequency in average human hearing - very high and low frequencies have to be much louder in order to be perceived as having the same amplitude as midrange frequencies. The dip between 2k-4k is the natural tube resonance characterized by the diameter and depth of the ear canal. Everyone's is different!

fletcher_munson.gif
 
Nah, I've definitely subjected mine to a fair bit of abuse before wisening up, so yeah, I have only myself to blame! It really hasn't negatively affected me at all though, only in absolute silence does what little ringing there is get a bit vexing
 
DSS3 said:
Seriously? Fuck, mine caps out at 22.4k. I hope to god there's not some magic drop off starting at age 19 or something - I've taken good care of my ears up until now!
Click to expand...

Dude, WTF?:OMG:
22.4KHz? Holy shit!
The standard range of human hearing is 20Hz to 20Khz, you are an uncommon beast for you to be able to hear ultrasonic frequencies.
 
Petrovsk Mizinski said:
Dude, WTF?:OMG:
22.4KHz? Holy shit!
The standard range of human hearing is 20Hz to 20Khz, you are an uncommon beast for you to be able to hear ultrasonic frequencies.
Click to expand...

I guess, I just figured it's cause I'm 18?

We did a test in physics this year and all tested out the limits of our hearing. Just a sine-wave generator and some full-ranged headphones, was really cool actually.
 
You have to remember that for accurate measuring, there is a standard loudness that they do it in. The loudness is very quiet, but I don't know the actual level in dB (maybe between 0 - 10 dB) and it has to be done in an extremely quiet environment with closed headphones and by a professional measurer. If you play frequencies loud enough, anyone can hear ultrasonic stuff, but that is not a medically acceptable result. It is also dangerous, because while you cannot hear it, the physical sound pressure can still damage your hearing.
 
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) typically is centered at 3000, 4000, or 6000 Hz. As noise damage progresses, damage starts affecting lower and higher frequencies. On an audiogram, the resulting configuration has a distinctive notch, sometimes referred to as a "noise notch."
 
DSS3 said:
I guess, I just figured it's cause I'm 18?

We did a test in physics this year and all tested out the limits of our hearing. Just a sine-wave generator and some full-ranged headphones, was really cool actually.
Click to expand...

Even so, I always thought even for young people the normal range was 20Hz-20KHz, and anyone that can hear significantly over that as in your case is not common. I don't know of anyone in real life that has done hearing tests that can hear that much above 20KHz.
 
I think that discussing our threshold can be a little pointless unless we've all had recent, controled hearing tests. We all use different monitors, which wouldn't be giving the same response at those frequencies.

As far as the OP goes, we all start to loose the higher frequencies, like it or not, as we get older. To a point, protecting your ears can work, but general day to day crap will be enough over say 40 years to provide a change/ damage.
I think mixing with hearing damage can be worked around, as long as you know where the damage is and how to compensate for it.
 
How are you guys determining where you start to lose it? are you all going and have profesional hearing tests done? Or I have seen some online hearing tests are those accurate at all?

Thanks
 
What are the best ear plugs a musician can use? What do you guys use? I have a pair of ER-20 and a pair of Alpine MusicSafe PRO Earplugs ->

425.jpg


Haven't tried these ones yet but read they're supposed to be better than the ER-20... I went to a fucked up black metal show last night (hey, a friend of mine dragged me there) it was complete shit as obvious from black metal, fucking noisy as hell, lots of feedback etc, and I used my ER-20, and was all right, although I had to keep refitting them as when I smile or laugh they seem to get off just a bit and some weird frequencies start getting in
 
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