Why, in your opinion, don’t people wear ear plugs?
Everybody (not just DJs) must have heard that loud music is going to damage their hearing… so why in your opinion people don’t wear earplugs?
My thinking is that its not because they’re uncomfortable, or they muffle the music. Because really once they’re in there its barely noticeable and to the casual club goer the sound really isn’t much worse. You can still feel the bass pumping physically.
I think its because they’re perceived as “uncool”, or their bright orange and yellow colors can make them stand out too much and look ridiculous, or people might not even know where to buy them, or people forget to bring them, or maybe people DON’T know that they’re destroying their hearing.
What do you guys think?
I’m actually thinking of investigating this problem as a design project for myself. So your opinions will be helpful, interesting, and valuable.
I’m gonna say that for the most part people just don’t care. The large majority of the club scene is 18-30 (for the most part) and typically speaking most teenagers and 20-somethings don’t care about hearing damage.
Being someone who is partially deaf in one ear, I always worry about more hearing loss. Given my obsession with producing music (and just listening to music in general), I can’t afford any more of it.
If you want to invest in some ear plugs that are fitted and don’t muffle the sound too much, I suggest you go to the doctor, they’ll be able to steer you in the right direction. They also are not obnoxious colors, making them harder to see, especially in a dark setting like a night club.
(It’s also worth noting that half the people at clubs and/or concerts are drunk or on drugs, which is going to make you care less about ear plugs and such).
I just realized this post may have made me sound like an old man. Oops.
Why don’t people wear ear plugs (in your opinion)?
Sorry if the question was unclear..
Anyway I agree most people don’t care, but then again most people don’t care about smoking. There must be a way to make people want to wear ear plugs.
I already have a nice set of ET 20s to hold me over until I can afford custom ones, so I’m not asking advice on what ear plugs to get. But for most people, even just a bunch of cheap ones from the pharmacy will do if they plan to go clubbing. But they are obnoxiously colored and people seem to see it as a dorky thing to wear ear plugs to a club.
And yet people still try to stop others from smoking through all sorts of methods. You can say its impossible but I’m still gonna try can’t give up too easily!
Sorry, just my attempt at being funny wasn’t… funny.
Kids think they are going to live forever. That is why they drink, smoke, take drugs and eat crap. They don’t wear earplugs because they associate this with being old, with being square. It taps in an indirect subconcious way into mortality fear. Kids don’t think they are old enough to have to worry about their bodies falling apart.
Doesn’t stop you making them look cool though. How about earplugs with integrated LEDs that flash in time to the music?
(c) lethal_pizzle 2010. If that hasn’t been invented already.
I’ve worn earplugs the last couple of times going out, and it feels great. No more peep in your ear! Plus you can just talk at normal volume to anyone wearing plugs, because they’ll actually HEAR you! no more screaming from 10 cm’s
The first time I wore earplugs out it felt great. I started talking to people at normal voice level cause I could hear myself talk again. They were all like WHAAAT?? SPEAK UP!!!
Yes I definitely plan on looking into this topic more.
All DJs should watch “It’s All Gone Pete Tong”. Then maybe they’d listen.
im starting to wear my custom earplugs lately - im starting to hear a very faint ringinging noise in my ears (only at night time before i sleep or after a club gig or something) and it worried the shit out of me - its not really there when i dont try to listen to it, but when i do try to hear it its there (the very faint ringing noise) - doesnt bother me too much now but it made me realise that maybe i have been listening to too much loud music or go to too many clubs without earplugs in the past , and kinda made me paranoid
@zilch: sounds like a tinnitus. don’t overdo it now, take a break from clubbing and DJing if possible (if not, get the best earplugs and strongest filters you can afford). remember that tinnitus is not only caused by loud music, lots of stress can do that to you too. you gotta take it easy for a while.
yes, there is. you have to scare them. it’s the only method that works.
if you own a kaoss pad 2, do the following in a club:
set the effect to 75
turn the fx volume all the way down
place your finger in the upper right corner of the touchpad and activate hold
now slowly reduce the input volume and turn up the fx level CAREFULLY
(when I say “CAREFULLY” I mean “don’t move it more than a few millimeters”)
the kp2 effect 75 is a simple synth - in high pitch, it sounds pretty much like a tinnitus. maintain your poker face while doing this, keep banging your head as if everything was perfectly okay. turn it back off after a while; you want to simulate a tinnitus, not cause one.
I promise you most people will be scared shitless and think about their health after this
+1, wear your earplugs. I’ve been looking at getting a pair of these http://www.bigearinc.com/home/Default.aspx I have a friend that is the Oklahoma rep for them. I would think an enterprising individual could get set up to be a rep as they’re all independent I think. You can make custom molded earplugs on the spot for people and headphone earplugs can be ordered from the mold.
An educational tune, a cross between ‘Sunscreen’ and the ‘Charlie says’ education vids (older UK readers will know what I mean). It can be a banging house track with long breakdown with the ‘tinittus sound’ in the middle and a ‘serious voice’ saying something like:
‘I can’t get no sleep
And I need to get some rest,
I confess, I don’t wear earplugs
Yes, yes, it was me I plead guilty
And on the count of three I listen to the whine
Of the tinnitus frequencies
Caused by the def-jam
When all the speakers went bam!’
And drop back into the banging house. You could use that to push your product.
Someone get Faithless on the line. Someone give me lots of money. Someone have the Sugababes washed, oiled, and sent to my flat. I’m a frickin’ genious.
I have it too. Normally it goes away after a (few) day(s), but for the last year it’s here to stay. You know about hearing damage but I didn’t expect it would go so soon. Remember, no hearing aid will ever solve a tinnitus. Once the little vibrating hairs in you ear break off, they grow back one more time. After that it’s over for the rest of your life.
Nowadays I always wear hearing protection to gigs and festivals. First used the cheap ones with filters (bought for like 10 euros) but now I have custom earplugs with flat response (200 euros). I must say it’s one of the best investments I’ve done with my health in mind…
Don’t freak out just yet. It may have been an underlying condition that you may have had already that you just happened to notice more as you thought about the noise/tinnitus.
I have mild tinnitus that has been there forever. Some people just have it.
The only way you can tell if you have hearing damage induced tinnitus is to see an audiologist and get a hearing test. This will tell you if your tinnitus is due to damaged hearing. I took a hearing test and my hearing is completely fine. But I still wear earplugs anytime I’m mixing or in a club.
lol, my favorite first response to ANY earplug debate.
In my experience I’ve been better about wearing ear plugs to BIG events in which I know that I’m going to be 1.near a big system and 2.want to be as close as possible. I do not like the ringing in my ear from going unprotected the whole night so I do what I can to prevent it, either from wearing just those ugly little orange spongy ones or putting in the made for musician ones that really only drop the decibels and don’t distort the sound, I know it’s an investment for my future so it’s well worth it.
can’t give up too easily!
