Unique talent requires unique earplugs

Musicians’ earplugs have always been around in one form or another. Starting with the bee wax earplugs of old, where roadies and technicians were protecting their hearing, because they would need to pass by the house loudspeakers, which are blasting at full sound pressure levels, and ending nowadays with fancy custom made earplugs which attenuate the level but do not interfere with sound frequencies. In the seventies, many musicians who were on the road and recording artists as well have suffered some degree of hearing loss. Some prominent members of the musicians’ clique, like Jeff Beck, suffer ever since from tinnitus.

Musicians’ earplugs have been developed just for that one reason, to help the current generation of musicians keep at least some of their hearing. It is not an urban legend that at a Motörhead concert six people got stone deaf because of the too loud music. Luckily for the bass guitar player, Lemmy, he was already legally deaf at that time and he barely heard anything anyway. Musicians’ earplugs are devices which are either inserted into the ear, like common earplugs, or there are more expensive versions of musicians’ earplugs that are custom made and can fit in ear monitoring into the hearing protection device. More recently, Phil Collins did tour with such musicians’ earplugs devices hanging, reporting that the musicians’ earplugs have finally gained recognition from the older generation.

Recent discoveries have prompted the industry to rethink the whole sound engineering concept, because already constant sound levels of 70 dB A can cause irreparable damage to hearing capabilities, rendering the people who live from sound design virtually handicapped. Many engineers working in recording studios have always refused to do tours, simply because they could not risk damaging their hearing and losing the only sense that puts the bread on their table. Since that the industry is all about the money, not much time has passed since the discovery of the problem to the actual solution, the musicians’ earplugs.

Very in demand with other ear protecting inquirers, musicians’ earplugs are designed to not interfere with the sound frequencies, but to diminish the sound level in a linear attenuation curve, not changing the perceived sound collage. Although the actual mixing is still done without any musicians’ earplugs, the final live performance can be monitored at diminished levels, just prompting simple corrections if deemed necessary. All live musicians on stage can be fitted with musicians’ earplugs and in ear monitoring devices, whereby their musicians’ earplugs headphone levels can be adjusted manually by each and every one. Such provisions have found immediate acceptance with all professional musicians worldwide and providers of musicians’ earplugs, especially custom made designer musicians’ earplugs are in very high demand.