Ear & Hearing Protection for Live Music Concerts
How Does Attending Live Music Concerts Affect Your Ears and Hearing
Noise levels around a stage at a music festival can reach to over 110dB. Ever had the feeling your hearing was a little lower than normal after a concert, or the day after? Found your ears ringing? These are both reactions of your ears after being exposed to loud music.
Music Induced Hearing Loss
After exposure to loud noise your ears can go into what is known as Temporary Threshold Shift (TTS) to protect themselves, once back in a quiet place your ears will start to recover and this can take several hours.
Constant exposure to the loudness level of music causes damage to the inner ear hair cells especially those responsible for high frequency hearing. This however is not a temporary measure a noise induced hearing loss is permanent and measures should be made to reduce the occurance of it. The good news is if prevention methods are put in place this kind of hearing loss is completely preventable.
Best Ear Plugs for Live Music Concerts and Gigs
With most live music concerts sound levels going over 100dB this means you are technically only able to enjoy this concert for 15 minutes before potential damage to your hearing can occur. With most concerts lasting two to three hours, you are not going to get your money's worth if you leave after 15 minutes duration.
When it comes to protecting your ears at a live music concert you don't want to be there wearing a huge piece of head gear or head phones. Your looking for something small yet smart that you will still be able to hear excellent quality music. Noise cancelling ear plugs are a great way to reduce unwanted noise levels as well as reducing the volume down just a tad to make it comfortable for your ears to listen to as well as reducing the occurance of ringing in your ears afterwards.
Keeping Healthy Hearing Whilst Attending Live Music Gigs
- The best accessory you can take to any live music concert or festival are a set of ear plugs, whether these are disposible or reusable, make it one of the first item you pack
- Dont stand close to speakers
- If you are a regular concert goer look into getting specific custom made ear plugs that give balanced sound reduction with little disruption of sound quality.
- Concerts are held in building with specific acoustics that allows listeners at the front or back to enjoy the music, to relief your ears of unessasary loudness take a seat at the back
- If you have a whole day or weekend of music planned, make sure you take regular "listening breaks" away from music too.