Protect Your Hearing

DJ's need to realize how important it is to protect your hearing!

Introduction

In recent surveys taken among elderly persons, relating to the real or potential loss of one of the five senses, the majority of people surveyed said that they feared hearing loss as they aged, more than the loss of any other of the senses. Complete loss of hearing has been identified as the sense in older persons that makes the subject feel most alone in the world (although in young persons, loss of sight is considered to be the most serious sensory deprivation). Unfortunately, for aspiring DJ's, partial or total eventual loss of hearing is probably the single most significant job hazard. Even for non-DJ's, the potential impact is staggering: A study in Great Britain found that 62% of regular club-goers suffer from significant symptoms of hearing loss.

Many people who attend clubs and parties will notice a "ringing" in the ears after leaving the party, sometimes still being noticeable more than 24 hours later. The phenomena is called tinnitus, and it's a symptom of damage to the inner ear. The average sound level in clubs often exceeds 110 decibels in volume, or in excess of 120 decibels in locations close to dance floor speakers. At these levels, hearing can be damaged in just a minutes, rather than taking hours.

A DJ playing on a good system usually has the ability to adjust sound volumes in the DJ booth independently of the dance floor. This is good. You can turn down your monitors and headphones, yet still be able to DJ effectively. Nonetheless, it is believed that average volume levels for DJ's "at work" often exceed 100 decibels. At this level, DJ'ing even one night per week for a short duration of two hours has been shown to create significant hearing loss (up to 10 decibels) over a period of just two years. Just think about how much worse things can be if you play longer sets a few times each week, or spend time in a louder booth. In Canada, provincial health and safety commissions typically forbid workers from working in environments over 90 decibels unless hearing protection is used.


Hearing Damage/Loss

There are three types of hearing loss:

Acoustic Trauma occurs when a person is exposed to sudden and excessive noise, such as an explosion (in excess of 140 decibels). Acoustic Trauma results in immediate and permanent hearing damage.

Noise-Induced Temporary Threshold Shift is the result of a chemical imbalance. When the person is removed from the source of the noise, the inner ear will gradually recover from this form of hearing loss.

Permanent Threshold Shift occurs when a person is exposed to greater levels and/or longer durations of excessive noise. The cochlea is an organ in your inner ear which is covered with tiny hairs and nerves. As noise continues, the tiny hairs are gradually damaged, as if they were flattened down. The hairs have to be in good shape to be able to detect vibrations in the air (which we perceive as sound). When the hairs on the cochlea start to become flattened, they lose the ability to work properly. The hairs which detect higher frequencies are usually the thinnest and most fragile, and therefore it is these frequencies which are usually affected first.

As a person ages, the ear becomes more sensitive to loud noises. When you are young, loud noise may only be perceived by the body to be annoying. However, as you get older, the body is more likely to signal its disapproval of the audio environment by the sensation of pain from the nerves in your eardrums. Therefore, when your parents say something like, "Turn that music down, you're hurting my ears," they may mean that quite literally. When you get old, it will start to make more sense.


How to Protect Your Hearing

There are several effective ways of protecting your hearing when you are DJ'ing.

Turn Down the Volume: Train yourself to mix and monitor at lower volume levels. There is a natural tendency to raise the volume of the headphones and/or monitor when mixing, to try to "catch the beat" more easily. We've all done it. Resist this temptation! Remember that it is a temporary benefit. The perception of being able to hear more easily is due only to the volume suddenly being louder. To get the same effect again a few minutes later, the volume must be raised yet again.

Turn Off Your Monitor: This isn't always an option, as it only works on a dance floor where the floor speakers are loud enough that you can effectively work without the monitors. This will take a bit of practice, nonetheless. Some DJ's can instinctively tell whether an incoming track is playing fractionally faster or slower after just a couple beats have played, even when the speeds of the two tracks are very close in tempo, separated by less than one beat per minute. However, DJ's who are that perceptive will also be sensitive to the time-delay of the sound coming from the floor speakers. There's a "delay," which is not consistent with the sound coming directly out of their headphones. It's even possible for highly trained DJ's and sound engineers to notice an appreciable delay when a monitor is moved just 2-3 feet further away from your mixing position. However, with a bit of practice, you can overcome these effects.

Position Yourself Behind the Sound Source: Regardless of whether you're playing at a one-time event, or you're designing and building a permanent DJ booth in a club, always try to ensure that you are located behind the speakers, not in front of them. The volume of your working environment will be a lot lower this way. Unfortunately, I've seen promoters and club owners who placed DJ'ing equipment in front of dance floor speakers, either through ignorance or lack of alternative options.

Use Earplugs: I'll discuss hearing protectors in more detail in a minute. However, for now, be aware that this is a very feasible and realistic alternative for some DJ's. The only trick is to ensure that once you have the earplugs in, you don't turn the monitors and headphones up to compensate for the lower volumes, and thus negate any advantage that the earplugs may have given you.

Take Magnesium Supplements: It appears that a low level of magnesium in the body appears to correlate with chemically induced permanent hearing threshold shifts. Going out and popping a few magnesium supplements is by no means going to save you from a night of heavy club exposure! However, if you're in the industry and chronic excessive noise levels are a significant concern, taking a daily magnesium supplement may help slightly. This method of trying to deal with the problem, of course, is only really utilized by hardcore professionals. Also, if you follow a healthy diet, you may not have to worry about supplementing your body's natural level of magnesium.


Hearing Protection Devices

There are two main types of hearing protectors, either plugs that are inserted into the ear canals, or muffs that are placed over the ears. In both cases, the idea is to reduce the sound volume in order to reduce potential hearing damage or loss. If you're a DJ or a clubber, you won't want to use ear-muffs. They're impractical for use in a club, although they can be comfortable and effective in other work environments, such as construction sites for mowing lawns. DJ's will want to use a type of "in-ear" protection instead of ear muffs.

While shopping for hearing protectors, you may see a designation abbreviated as NRR. This stands for "Noise Reduction Rating." It refers to the approximate level of noise reduction in decibels. Larger numbers mean that more protection is provided.


In-Ear Hearing Protection

There are basically four types of in-ear protection. Three of them are fairly inexpensive, but have limitations with respect to frequency response. That's because they block all frequencies to some extent, but due to the way that sound is transmitted, lower pitches (bass & sub-bass) get through more easily. Because of this, we perceive that higher frequencies (human voice and higher) is blocked more. This creates an unnatural effect, where the treble frequencies sound more muffled. It's possible to avoid this phenomena, by investing in a type of specialty in-ear protector (the fourth item on this list).

Foam Protectors: Foam is sound-attenuating (reduces sound intensity). The foam is compressed temporarily, then inserted in the ear canal. After it is inserted, it re-expands to its original shape and fills the ear canal. These plugs are available in many locations, often in large package (since they're considered to be disposable). They're inexpensive, lightweight, and fairly comfortable. Of course, because they're disposable, they require regular replacement. Also, the pressure of the foam can be uncomfortable to the ear after lengthy periods.

Ribbed Hearing Protectors: These are usually made of rubber, and one size fits all. These are also easy to find, durable, and lightweight. Since they're intended to be reused, they can be cleaned fairly easily. The drawback with ribbed rubber plugs is that they slip out of the ear fairly easily, and may not provide a tight fit. If the fit is not tight, the effectiveness of the plug is greatly reduced.

Custom Molded Protectors: These are made of silicone and are custom molded to be a perfect fit for the owner's ear (the left and right protectors are molded separately, unique to each ear). These are naturally quite a bit more expensive than disposable or semi-disposable plugs, but they usually have a very good fit and noise rating, and they can be worn for long periods of time in relative comfort. The disadvantage is that they require an initial impression of the ear, so it may take several days for them to be constructed by a professional.

Musician's Hearing Protectors: Musician's hearing protectors are also made of silicone or a semi-hard material. The interesting thing about these protectors is that they solve this problem of the treble sounding muffled. Musican's hearing protectors have components in them that reduce the volume levels of all frequencies equally, rather than blocking treble more than bass. This is called "flat frequency attenuation." When using these protectors, it seems like the sound clarity is unchanged, even though the overall volume is lower. Musician's protectors are not inexpensive, however, they can provide good noise reduction ratings, they are durable and comfortable for long periods of time, and they almost always provide the best sound quality after filtering. You can also pick how much attenuation you want to have.


Musician's Hearing Protectors

I'm going to get into a little bit more detail about musician's hearing protectors, since they're such a good option for many DJ's and musicians. After learning about these items, you may want to invest in a pair for yourself.

Most musician's hearing protectors come with the option of three different volume ratings. They can reduce environmental noise by either 9, 15, or 25 decibels. If you are unsure which level is most appropriate for you, the best approach is probably to start by trying out a fifteen decibel reduction protector, as it lies in the middle of your three choices. Most audiologists or hearing centers will let you change the strength of the reduction for up to a couple weeks after purchase at no additional cost, since the actual molding does not have to be redone. All that has to be done is that the disc, which provides the reduction element, needs to be changed. A nine decibel reduction is fairly minimal. Twenty-five decibels is fairly significant, and may be found to be too much reduction by some people (especially if you have already suffered partial hearing loss). Fifteen decibels is probably the most common reduction level. That's the level that I got when I bought mine.

When you visit an audiologist to buy musician's protectors, they'll probably talk to you for a few minutes to ask you some questions about your hearing history. Next will be the process of taking the impressions for the protectors. To do this, the audiologist mixes some silicone paste with a hardening agent, and then squirts it into your ear canal. It sounds strange, but it's not uncomfortable. Once the silicone has been in your ear canal for about five minutes, it hardens and can be removed. After that, you're done and you'll just have to come back a few days later to pick up your hearing protectors.

A set of custom-fitted musician's protectors is not cheap. In 2004, I paid approximately $180 (Canadian dollars) for a set. I checked again in 2024, and the price had risen to $290 Canadian. Mind you, this is a one-time cost, and when you think about the fact that serious hearing damage will stay with you for the rest of your life, it seems pretty reasonable. I intentionally picked a pair of brightly colored plugs, so they'd be easier to find, and it would be easier to tell right from left. It's also possible to get flesh-toned colours. No two ears are the same, and therefore the protectors are not interchangeable from left to right.


Parting Thoughts

Remember that no matter what you do to try to protect your hearing, every little bit helps. However, be sure that you insert and use your protectors properly. Improperly inserted protectors can be worse than using no hearing protectors, because you may have a false sense of security, and think that you're protected properly in a loud environment.

One important characteristic of sound is that at louder volumes, it becomes more difficult for the human ear to differentiate between different frequencies. For the people on your dance floor, a louder volume helps cover up minor mistakes in your mixing. However, it's more difficult to mix accurately under extremely loud volumes, even though your senses seem to tell you otherwise. Many professional musicians, even concert and orchestral musicians, are starting to recognize the benefits of constant earplug use while practicing and performing.

The presence of alcohol can also affect your hearing. Alcohol (and certain other drugs) will dilate the capillaries in your ears and physically reduce your ear's sensitivity to noise. Due to this, as the night wears on and you have a few drinks, the same volume output from the speakers will start to sound slightly less loud. You may feel that you need to turn up the volume, which is harder on your hearing. Of course, if you're getting paid to perform, being intoxicated may be considered unprofessional in the first place.

I really hope that this short introduction to the benefits of using hearing protection will stick with you. I've been lucky, because I started using hearing protection early. After a few decades of music-related work, my hearing level is still fairly close to normal. Remember, some types of hearing damage are cumulative, and will stay with you for the rest of your life. The best time to start taking proper care of your hearing is now, while you still have it.