Hearing Damage as a DJ

[Liambo]

I have a super mild case of tinnitus.

I wear moulded ear plugs during all my gigs i play or even when i'm just on a night out. Always reduces the sound and makes listening enjoyable.

I have two friends that have been DJ'n for ten years in the club i resident at and sometimes they have to put me on the decks because they can't hear anything. Their hearing has got that bad!

I was also speaking to my nose/throat/ear specialist and he said being in a nightclub for 4 hours at roughly 100dB is the equivalent to being in an 'industrial working enviroment' for 8 hours.

[DJWilliams]

Does anyone have any tips on what earplugs to get? Should I just get normal rubbish ones or pay a bit extra for professional ones?

[Cybertrash]

Does anyone have any tips on what earplugs to get? Should I just get normal rubbish ones or pay a bit extra for professional ones?

Depends on how often you'll use them. If it's very often, it's worth to get more "proffessional" plugs, they'll be more comfortable, work better and they're reusable. But if you'll just them like, once every two months, you could probably use cheaper ones.

[DJWilliams]

Well I hope I'll be going out & gigging every week soon, so I'd need pretty good ones. I don't have that much money but ideally I'd want ones that lower the highs a bit as they are what causes tinnitus etc, but I don't want ones that lower the volume significantly.
I have looked on Amazon and there are ER20s and Alpine Music Safe Pro but I don't really fancy either of them as they stick out of your ear a lot and I have small ear canals.

[geminimech]

Tinnitus.....

Got it....but had it before I got into music. (ear issues as a kid)

So used to it over the years, but not great when you have never had it before.

Ear Plugs.

This. Tinnitus sucks butt. Once you have a permanent case of it, you'll really wish you wore those ear plugs.

[Sherlock Ohms]

I use Etymotic ER20s (they are quite long, but I have big lugs so it's not so bad) I have some other one that are lower profile and fit under my headphones better (name escapes me at the mo)

I dind't buy custom moulded ones, as I occasionally lose stuff, and finding tiny earplugs on the floor in a a dark booth is tricky (and tbh I probably wouldn't want to put them back in my ears afterwards ...)

[Afterhour Ali]

I also lost some decibels already despite me being in the early 20s.

That's why I got some moulded earplugs. They are totally worth the money. Their little bag is always attached to my keys so I (almost) never forget them.

The funny thing in clubs is that you can hear people yelling at each other and understand every word.

[mostapha]

Didn't read any of the responses.

I don't go out if I don't have something to protect my ears. If the club isn't particularly loud, there's a way to wad up bar napkins (that are bone dry, of course) that doesn't sound too bad and makes a big difference. But that's only if it was on a whim and I don't have my real plugs.

I use Hearos musicians plugs in the "new, smaller size" because after about 2 minutes I forget that they're there. I can actually hear more detail in the music with them in as well as people talking next to me instead of screaming in my ear.

I haven't done a gig without plugs in for several years. And I wear them at home and at my friend's house when playing guitar because we use tube amps and they don't sound right unless they're loud enough to cause damage…even the "little" 15W tube amps we use.

And as soon as I have the disposable income, I'm switching back to IEMs and having custom molds made for DJing. If the mixer has the right cuing section to support it, it works beter.

But, I'm selling my xone:62 first because it doesn't have a cue/master blend control for the headphone signal and there's no logic going on, so cuing a second channel makes it a shit-ton louder (and can cause the headphone output to clip)…which means that IEMs just aren't viable with that mixer.

[Afterhour Ali]

Didn't read any of the responses.

Go back to page 1 and start again!

[funke]

I have two friends that have been DJ'n for ten years in the club i resident at and sometimes they have to put me on the decks because they can't hear anything. Their hearing has got that bad!

Would this be true at any sound level? Or just at club volume? I boogered up my ears from shooting guns when I was younger and am wondering if this is why I have such a dificult time beatmatching.