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Ear protection for adults at Glastonbury


bexj
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The incredibly sad news has emerged that Inspiral Carpets drummer Craig Gill took his own life probably because of worsening tinnitus caused by his lifelong involvement in music. 

It's made me stop and think, in my mid 40's, about the longer term impact of listening to loud music and festivals.  Does anyone have any recommendations for earplugs? Or any other thoughts?

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Just now, bexj said:

The incredibly sad news has emerged that Inspiral Carpets drummer Craig Gill took his own life probably because of worsening tinnitus caused by his lifelong involvement in music. 

It's made me stop and think, in my mid 40's, about the longer term impact of listening to loud music and festivals.  Does anyone have any recommendations for earplugs? Or any other thoughts?

I wear some that are sort of gum texture, are clear and have varying filters depending on the noise level. I just searched comfortable ear plugs for musicians and they came up :) I always wear mine, it doesn't compromise the sound but definitely cancels out the more damaging levels. 

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Etymotic ER20's have been a standard recommendation among musicians for years, but I've just noticed they now do a 'hi fidelity' pair. No idea what the difference is without looking into it, but they probably have a flatter response to the attenuation (although the standard ER20's were pretty good in this respect). 20dB is a reduction in volume x4, and a reduction in power x100.

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50 minutes ago, Lucy92 said:

Just searched and I think these are mine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpine-MusicSafe-Filter-Plugs-Musicians/dp/B000VO8PR0 or at least very similar ones 

I have those too.  I don't bother for Glasto cos 90% of the acts I see are outside and I'm way at the back, but I wear at least one for indoor gigs (one ear is a bit ropey).  Thinking about it, I'm bringing my earplugs this year.

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Sorry if this is hijacking the thread but for the last few festivals I've been to, I've not been able to listen properly to any music in a tent.  My ears can't seem to work out which is the real sound and which is the sound that echoes off the tent walls - at least that's my best way of explaining  it - and I end up hearing a really "dirty" sound which means I can't understand a word of the lyrics, anything the performer says and I miss the more precise bits of the music.  I don't get the same thing in more solid buildings or outside.  It's ok for those songs that I know really well where I listen to the music in my head as well as that coming through my ears but I really like listening to unfamiliar stuff too and I like listening to music in tents.  Anyone here know if there's any ear protection or whatever that might help?  My GP's response was "So, you don't normally have any problem with your hearing?  My suggestion, therefore, would be that your body is telling you that you are too old to go to festivals".  (I'd like to pretend that I came up with some really cutting but still witty reply; in reality, I just left the surgery muttering to myself)

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Everyone should look after their ears.

I have worn these for 20 years and thoroughly recomend them :  https://giggear.co.uk/buy/docs-pro-plugs-medium?gclid=Cj0KEQjw6LXIBRCUqIjXmdKBxZUBEiQA_f50Pkz3w2th0Rg3_eFU7dgVs6YxGBKcO4VoSmJaJYfpe1IaAsrY8P8HAQ

Everyone should look after their ears.

You can try them all out in drum shops to find out what size you are.

Everyone should look after their ears.

I asked my Dr for a hearing test last year which showed what I already knew, but put a figure on it.  I'm a bit deaf in one ear.  I struggle to hear conversations in pubs unless I shove the good ear forward.  This is quite hard as I work in pubs.  I don't have tinnitus (yet) and I'm hoping to avoid it.

Everyone should look after their ears.

Also, you can get proper molded ones specific to your ears from the NHS by requesting it.  Mrs Worm has a pair as her tinnitus is bad.

Everyone should look after their ears.

At all stages where the music is loud, there should be the yellow foam ear buds free to anyone that asks for them.  At Glasto I've tried this theory out at various stages and ALWAYS been successful.  It might take a few people to get them to you, but it should work.  I know that stage managers must ask their employees that work in areas with hazard noise zones to wear them (albeit the employee makes the final choice) and punters should have access to them upon request.  

Everyone should look after their ears.

I often crouch in the press pit of a fairly big stage and walking past the bass bins without these yellow types if an absolute no no.

Everyone should look after their ears.

I wear my Dr-Pros (link above) a lot.  They last about 3-5 years before they're too manky.

Everyone should look after their ears.

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2 hours ago, Lucy92 said:

Just searched and I think these are mine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpine-MusicSafe-Filter-Plugs-Musicians/dp/B000VO8PR0 or at least very similar ones 

I tried these last time, wasn't that impressed to be honest, cut most of the bass  

 

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I knackered my ears a couple of years ago with back to back concerts where I was on the rail (no time for my ears to recover from the previous gig).

Getting up in the morning with hissing in your ears that fades away during the day (if your lucky) and gets worse if you have a cold or go to a gig is a real bummer. It's got to the point now where I have to wear earplugs to go to any gig/festival or within 20 minutes my ears are whistling so bad it hurts.

 

I use ER20's as my go to earplugs - They come with a string and holders that fits onto the end of the stems (so you don't drop them in the mud). I always keep a couple of pairs of those crap orange foam ones that the security guys use for emergencies (or when sleeping in the tent). I did considered molded ones but (a) they're expensive and (b) I have very hairy ears so they can be irritating. 

 

I've tried a couple of other brands and it took a few goes to find ones that fitted OK, dropped the noise level without muffling the music too much and where I could hear myself talking, also that you can get them back out afterwards easily (I got some with a small lip on the edge and had to drive home with them in once as I'd cut my fingernails and I couldn't get hold of them to take them out).

 

You don't have to spend a fortune to protect your ears, but its grim if you break them.

 

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1 hour ago, mrfunk said:

I tried these last time, wasn't that impressed to be honest, cut most of the bass  

 

Mine aren't those exact ones but similar. The ones I have don't cut the bass out but it does depend on what filter you use 

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I also have tinnitus and hyperacusis, and I swear by the ACS moulded ear plugs. The ER20s and similar are good in a pinch, a million times better than nothing but if you can afford the moulded ones they are a total game-changer in terms of sound quality. 

I've lost them loads of times and have always replaced them immediately, despite the expense, as nothing else comes close to them.

 

Dont lose them though :/ that's a depressing time. 

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4 hours ago, Lucy92 said:

Just searched and I think these are mine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpine-MusicSafe-Filter-Plugs-Musicians/dp/B000VO8PR0 or at least very similar ones 

I use the Alpine Music Safe Pro too but only for indoor gigs, as I do around 20/30 a year. The great thing about them is that they cancel out certain frequencies only and you can still hear the important stuff really well. I've been using them for around 3 years now and it amazes me how many people not only don't wear them but give me strange looks when you put them in just before the main act comes on. I don't seem to need them in Festivals though, maybe a fair bit of the noise disappears into the ether being outside? Strongly recommended for regular gig-goers though

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2 hours ago, ian the worm said:

 

 

 

At all stages where the music is loud, there should be the yellow foam ear buds free to anyone that asks for them.  At Glasto I've tried this theory out at various stages and ALWAYS been successful.  It might take a few people to get them to you, but it should work.  I know that stage managers must ask their employees that work in areas with hazard noise zones to wear them (albeit the employee makes the final choice) and punters should have access to them upon request.  

 

i wasn't aware of this at all. Who would you ask for them ?

Richard Hawley at the Park last year was probably the loudest kick/bass i've ever heard, to the point where it was offensive.

Was fairly close at about 10 rows back, which wouldn't have helped i suppose.

Park sound guy possibly over compensating for his ears being punished,and losing the low frequencies.

 

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I spent 10 years working in nightclubs, ear plugs were available if we wanted them but hardly anyone took the management offer and used them. I now work in manufacturing and it is compulsory to wear ear protection on the factory floor. If they had the same legal rules in my nightclub days then I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have tinnitus. I only have it mild, it's only very occasionally I'm affected by it but I can imagine the torment it would put you if it was permanent. 

 

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As someone who suffers from tinnitus and deafness myself it's really sad to hear someone took their life over this :(

I don't wear ear protection myself but looking to invest in some going forward, as ears are screwed already so best look after them

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Wow. Loads of brilliant information thank you.  A couple of stupid questions...i have small ears, normal headphone in ear pieces never stay in.  Is this likely to be a problem?  Also can you hear what people are saying around you with them in?

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11 hours ago, brandycoke said:

i wasn't aware of this at all. Who would you ask for them ?

Richard Hawley at the Park last year was probably the loudest kick/bass i've ever heard, to the point where it was offensive.

Was fairly close at about 10 rows back, which wouldn't have helped i suppose.

Park sound guy possibly over compensating for his ears being punished,and losing the low frequencies.

 

Any of the staff to the front of stage can get you them, I think.  Just go way out to the side of the front row where the crowd's thin and wave one over.  They're the foam type plugs so cancel pretty much all noise but if your ears are suffering, needs must.

IIRC there's a deaf charity/awareness stall near the meeting point somewhere that also hands them out.  Or they used to. 

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59 minutes ago, scaryclaireyfairy said:

Any of the staff to the front of stage can get you them, I think.  Just go way out to the side of the front row where the crowd's thin and wave one over.  They're the foam type plugs so cancel pretty much all noise but if your ears are suffering, needs must.

Yes. Ask the staff. The internationally recognised  symbol of asking for earplugs is to point into you ears and wince.  

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I read an article this week. Where scientists made ear hairs used for hearing in a lab. They start with stem cells and add protein to it specified times to create the hairs. But what was crazy. If they added the protein for a longer time it would turn into a brain...or brain cells.

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2 minutes ago, payneruk said:

I read an article this week. Where scientists made ear hairs used for hearing in a lab. They start with stem cells and add protein to it specified times to create the hairs. But what was crazy. If they added the protein for a longer time it would turn into a brain...or brain cells.

Ooh that's very spookily interesting! So ear hairs are immature brain cells! Or our hearing mechanism is almost-directly a part of our brain, or.... something! Fascinating. Do you have a link to the article by any chance?

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3 hours ago, Jah_Roots said:

hello,

this is the first time i have posted here in many years (can't remember old login hence new account) but this thread actually moved me to post.

i am now 40, been to so many gigs and festivals i can't even remember most of them.

i woke up countless times after a gig with the ringing in my head and ears. 

but it always sorted itself out. sooner or later, but it always did.

i never wore ear protection, and if I'm honest in my younger days i probably had a laugh at those that did.

but i pushed my luck one too many times.

funny thing is i can tell you the exact time and place that my luck ran out - i was at the Tristan show in the Glade Lounge on the sunday night last year. i was down the front by the speaker stack - even at the time i knew i shouldn't have stayed there the whole time, but by then i was operating on 100% sangria power and the set was pretty awesome.

so, as i left that tent, the sound in my ears and my head stayed with me - but never mind, it will wear off, it always wears off...

the next day it hadn't worn off, the next week, the next month, it hadn't worn off and as i sit here typing this its like I'm still in that tent by the speaker stack - the noise in my ears continually bouncing round in my head...

getting any kind of meaningful rest is not easy, the quieter the surrounding, the worse it is.

the sound of one thing is ok, like watching tv, but if there is any other kind of background noise then everything just gets mashed into a sort of jumbled muffled din.

sorry for the life story, not sure why i wrote all this, just something i wanted to get out i guess.

 

anyway - i think my point is - do not take your hearing for granted. 

 

i did not know about the Inspiral's drummer until i opened this thread, it is a truly sad thing.

this year, even tho its too late to stop the initial damage, i shall be investing in some proper earplugs.

to try and end on a lighter note - i cannot wait to get through those gates again! :D

Thanks you for posting.  Welcome (back) to the forum.  xx

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