Hearing Loss

 As I ride the streetcar across town everyday, I can hear everything from the latest Lady Gaga hit to the new dubstep song blaring from ear buds of young students, middle age business men and even the occasional TTC driver. With Ipods and mp3 players being the most common form of medium for listening to music these days, hearing loss is on the rise. An Ipod at half volume is around 95 d.b, which is just a little quieter than an impact gun used at your local auto repair shop. One or two hours of constant listening at full volume on your Ipod and you have sustained permanent damage. The average busy city street corner can reach volumes of 85-100 d.b. We are living in a culture of loud, being constantly bombarded by ear piercing noises. The boomer generation started to lose their hearing faster than they should have due to decades of concerts, and it seems that their children are at a greater risk. When one starts to lose hearing its usually the mid range that goes first, the treble that helps us understand consonants.

So for anyone who is interested in pursuing a career in the music industry, the protection of your money makers is essential. No one wants to have their record mixed by someone who can't hear how horrible it sounds. Or hire a session musician who can't tell he's constantly out of tune.  If an engineer can't hear 500-700hz than he is comparable to a surgeon with the shakes. Many professional performers will have their hearing tested twice a year, and sometimes have custom ear protection made specifically to conform to their ears. But why bother you ask? Well once you lose a certain frequency than its gone, but without the knowledge of what range you have sustained damage in, than you cannot tell if the problem lies with the musician or yourself. With recording technology becoming affordable to the vast majority of enthusiasts, many are deciding to record demos themselves, never letting the music pass a professional engineer before promoting it. If they have major hearing damage (as a huge number of musicians do) than the quality of the demo will be sub par. Possibly ruining the only chance they might of had.

I'm not here to preach, I'm simply stating the obvious. If someone has epilepsy, they are not allowed to drive an automobile until they are cleared by a doctor. The same should be said for audio engineers. If you have a dream to work in the industry, do yourself a favour and check your hearing. Maybe you'll save yourself a lot of time and money and realize that you should be doing it as a hobby. The bottom line is we live in a very noisy world, and our senses deserve to be protected. So buy a cheap pair of ear plugs, throw 'em in your pocket before you go and see your favorite death metal band play this weekend!