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Originally posted from and thanks to FM:
Hearing Damage
from the Tidy Trax site...
Hearing damage can be the end of a DJing career before it has even started. Fewer and fewer DJs are taking into consideration their hearing, when it should be the top on the priority list. Hearing damage will affect you more and more as time goes by, because it is incurable disorder. Once the damage is done there is no cure to rectify the damage.
Act now! While you still have the chance...
An early sign that you may be suffering from some sort of hearing damage is a ringing tone in your ears. It is quite common for a clubber who has been out havin' it all night, to complain about a slight ringing sound in their ears. This is what happens after a short burst of abuse from the clubs speakers and isn't really anything to worry about. It's the regular abuse from being in noisy environments that is going to cause the damage.
The sounds are picked up in the inner ear by microscopic hair cells. These cells stand up on end, receive the sounds and then send the electronic messages to the brain. The brain then interprets the sounds into a form that we recognise. When we go out clubbing the hair cells are knocked down, making them unable to pass on the messages to the brain. If the hair cells are given a chance they will stand up again, but if they are regularly exposed to high levels of noise they will not be able to repair themselves. This will leave them permanently damaged and unable to pick up the frequencies leaving you with a degree of hearing damage.
Hearing loss can effect your ability to hear quiet sounds at high frequencies and the ability to hear hard consonants i.e. 'p', 'ka' and 'sa', making conversations muddled and incomprehensible.
But there is a way around this ...
Earplugs. Admittedly they don't sound like something that you're going to want to rush out and blow your hard earned cash on straight away. It could prove to be the best few quid you've spent since you bought your first pair of decks.
Through speaking to a number of DJs we found out that quite a high percentage do already use earplugs, such as our very own Tidy boy Andy Pickles. Like most professional DJs Andy has his own specially made earplugs that cut out roughly 15db's (decibels) of sound. Similarly, Graham Eden from the Brainbashers uses especially fitted earplugs that are called ER15's that cost around ?100. Again the earplugs cut out about 15db's but still give the ability to hear the top end (treble) signals, without making it impossible to mix.
The general vibe was that the DJs who didn't use them would do, if they felt a little more comfortable and natural in the ear. At the end of the day nobody wants to lose any hearing ability. By not doing anything about noise levels you subject your ears to, you increase the possibility of getting Tinnitus. This can be a very painful disorder that can cause great discomfort. Once you've got it, you're stuck with it. Tinnitus is a high pitch whistling that will drive you nuts, especially at night when you go to bed and its all silent but you still can hear ''weeeeeeeee''.
Joking aside, we're not asking you to stop going out or to turn down the volume so low that not even super dog Lassie can't hear it. We're just suggesting you give a little bit more consideration to those poor things on sides of your head that take all the abuse you chuck at them!
Other sites:
Hearing Damage
from the Tidy Trax site...
Hearing damage can be the end of a DJing career before it has even started. Fewer and fewer DJs are taking into consideration their hearing, when it should be the top on the priority list. Hearing damage will affect you more and more as time goes by, because it is incurable disorder. Once the damage is done there is no cure to rectify the damage.
Act now! While you still have the chance...
An early sign that you may be suffering from some sort of hearing damage is a ringing tone in your ears. It is quite common for a clubber who has been out havin' it all night, to complain about a slight ringing sound in their ears. This is what happens after a short burst of abuse from the clubs speakers and isn't really anything to worry about. It's the regular abuse from being in noisy environments that is going to cause the damage.
The sounds are picked up in the inner ear by microscopic hair cells. These cells stand up on end, receive the sounds and then send the electronic messages to the brain. The brain then interprets the sounds into a form that we recognise. When we go out clubbing the hair cells are knocked down, making them unable to pass on the messages to the brain. If the hair cells are given a chance they will stand up again, but if they are regularly exposed to high levels of noise they will not be able to repair themselves. This will leave them permanently damaged and unable to pick up the frequencies leaving you with a degree of hearing damage.
Hearing loss can effect your ability to hear quiet sounds at high frequencies and the ability to hear hard consonants i.e. 'p', 'ka' and 'sa', making conversations muddled and incomprehensible.
But there is a way around this ...
Earplugs. Admittedly they don't sound like something that you're going to want to rush out and blow your hard earned cash on straight away. It could prove to be the best few quid you've spent since you bought your first pair of decks.
Through speaking to a number of DJs we found out that quite a high percentage do already use earplugs, such as our very own Tidy boy Andy Pickles. Like most professional DJs Andy has his own specially made earplugs that cut out roughly 15db's (decibels) of sound. Similarly, Graham Eden from the Brainbashers uses especially fitted earplugs that are called ER15's that cost around ?100. Again the earplugs cut out about 15db's but still give the ability to hear the top end (treble) signals, without making it impossible to mix.
The general vibe was that the DJs who didn't use them would do, if they felt a little more comfortable and natural in the ear. At the end of the day nobody wants to lose any hearing ability. By not doing anything about noise levels you subject your ears to, you increase the possibility of getting Tinnitus. This can be a very painful disorder that can cause great discomfort. Once you've got it, you're stuck with it. Tinnitus is a high pitch whistling that will drive you nuts, especially at night when you go to bed and its all silent but you still can hear ''weeeeeeeee''.
Joking aside, we're not asking you to stop going out or to turn down the volume so low that not even super dog Lassie can't hear it. We're just suggesting you give a little bit more consideration to those poor things on sides of your head that take all the abuse you chuck at them!
Other sites:
