Question re. hearing protection

I'm the parent of a teen drummer who has to practice in his bedroom, which has virtually no sound absorption (working on that, but it's difficult). I'm worried about potential damage to his hearing (if it hasn't already happened!) and am looking for solutions. I've talked to an audio specialty shop which will make custom earplugs for $150+ dollars, but he's sure to lose them in his room!

I'm wondering what other drummers do to protect their hearing? Does anyone have experience with the headphone-type industrial safety ear protectors? Any suggestions/observations/recommendations welcome.

Thanks. Terry A.

Yes, you might want to get headphones called Studio-Kans (You can probably find them at any major music stores). There's a couple of versions made, one with a built in metronome and one without. I got the ones without and I think they were around $75. These aren't just hearing protection phones, you can listen to music thru them as well (drum to your fav CD's, etc...).

Hi, I don't think you need to spend $150 for hearing protection. Go to your nearest firearms store. There you will find a much cheaper solution. Headphones are big and cumbersome and not the best looking things.

I own a gun store, and we carry the following three types of in the ear protection.

We have Howard Leight orange foam reusable plugs, noise reduction rating (NRR) is 26. They cost $4. We have them with or without a string to hold the 2 plugs together to wear around your neck when they are not in your ear.

We also have Peltor Sonic II. These allow low noise to be heard, but block out higher noises. They have a NRR of 6, and are $13 per pair.

Lastly, and what my entire band uses when we practice, we have the standard in the ear foam type plugs. The particular brand we carry is from AOSafety, they come in a tub of 200, we sell each pair for 25 cents each. You roll them up, pop them in your ear, and when they unroll or expand, they block out all noise. They have a NRR of 29.

Any local store should stock, or be able to get you any of these, they will all work great for your drummer.

If you can't find them, let me know and I will gladly supply you with some. Hope this helps.

Good luck. Rick

the custom earplugs are the best route. for bedroom playing, get the 9db or the 15db plugs, they're well worth the investment as they don't affect the sound, just lower the volume in the ear unlike the standard foam ones that cost $5 a pair (these muffle everything). I would definitely recommend protection. $150 now is better than $1500 later for a hearing aid. they also, strangely enough, can help his playing because he can hear himself better rather than drowning in his own noise.

Greetings, I am a drum teacher in the SE MA, RI area and teach about 70 students a week, privately and at Rick's Music World in Seekonk, MA. I teach in a very small room and this means 2 or more drummers are playing at the same time. I give all my students the option of using headphones which are reduce decibel level by about 20 decibels. You can purchase them at Home Depot, Lowes, or any store of this type. You will either find them in the lawn and garden, tool, or safety departments. They are usually red or maroon in color and cost around 20$. Such headphones are used by individuals using load machinery or leafblowers, etc,etc.Ear protection is of the utmost importance when drumming and this is a cost effective way to get the job done as buying disposable earplugs eventually run into expensive propositions. Drummers who neglect hearing protection eventually develop tenitis which is the ringing in the ears that replaces your hearing and there is still presently no medical cure for. Cymbals do the most damage to your ears as they give off high pitched frequencies that are inaudible so its what you do not hear that hurts the most. While custom earplugs are the best choice, at this stage of the game, the headphones work the best and nearly all of my students voluntarily use them. While your at it you might want to pick up a pair for yourself. Any Questions..write to: Robert Martin

Regards, RJM

They greatly reduce the noise level and

prolonged exposure to any loud noise causes permanent damage of one sort or another. hearing protection should be used. no need to spend all that money on custom stuff, just go to your local hardware store, and ask about their earplugs. howard leight are amongh the best that i have used. you want at least a 29db isolation. the howard leight which i have seen recommended in this group make a 33db plug i belive. you can usually get a box of 50 pair for less than 50 dollars, if you know where to look (grainger catalogues are quite nice).

the only drawback ive seen to earplugs is that they are not the speediest to insert and remove. this isnt usually a problem, but in a band practice setting, it is sometimes nice at the end of a song to be able to just take off the protection and not have to shout at the other band members. for this i would reccommend the peltor ear muff type things. the ones i have cost $20 through the industrial catalogue, have a 29 db isolation and are large enough to allow small headphones to be placed inside, such as http://www.sonystyle.com/electronics/ssctypg.jsp? hierc=8632x8746x8755... ... they arent the greatest headphones ever, but if you just want to put a metronome through them or jam to a cd or something, there's nothing wrong with them.

earplugs are probably the best solution however. if he ever plays a show sometime, earplugs will not be as noticable or make him look like a robot.

I just play quieter : ) hehe, no but seriously, i dont need to play loudley when just practising in my bedroom, but twhen it comes to gigs, its a much wider open area so its not to bad.I have been in situations once i twice when i've needed some form of noise protection from my drums so i used some swimming ones i had got ages before that are basicaly, a small bit of thin rope (about 2cm long a bit less perhaps) which where soaked ina soft wax and you pushed them gently into your ears and the tip that stuck out you would mould teh soft wax around your ear to fill in any gabs, they only cost a few pounds (couple of dollars) and they worked fine, although when worn for a long period of time they warm up and make your ears greasy inside but that wsnt a problem because they don't go very deep and for the rpice they worked really well.

Although i think they are intended for swimming (the wax is waterproof and since they can be moulded to form a seal it makes sense)They worked a treat and foir the price, does washing your ears occasioanlly kill you?

Yours,

Jon Travis

I use a cheap $15.00 pair of headphone type ear-muff protectors that I picked up from a sporting good store. It cuts out so much sound that I actually had to drill some tiny holes in it so I could hear the rest of the band.

Scott HotDrum.com