Health & Technique

Featured article

Blowing Out Your Ears…Again.


Blowing Out Your Ears Part II: Protection

What is the most effective protection for the vocalist’s ears? Three experts share their views…

From Dr. Anthony F. Jahn:

This week the focus of our discussion will be ear protection.

There are special musician’s ear plugs that give a flat frequency response and can be custom made for you; they are unobtrusive and used by many professional musicians, whether at a rock concert or in the pit at a Broadway show.

Use these whenever you are in an excessively noisy environment. Keep them with you at all times and wear them every time—no exceptions.

Think of the plugs as safe sex for your ears! As a professional musician, this measure is the single most valuable investment you can make to protect your hearing. > read more

VN:F [1.7.5_995]
Rating: +4 (from 4 votes)

Blowing Out Your Ears?


How can vocalists surrounded by loud music maintain good hearing for life? A physician, producer and vocal coach share crucial wisdom.

From Dr. Anthony F. Jahn:

Many books have been written on noise-associated hearing loss but let me just highlight a couple of important points, specifically for singers, from the medical perspective.

There is a normal age-related deterioration in high frequency hearing that affects all of us.

At birth, we can hear up to 20,000 Hertz, well beyond the dog whistle frequencies. By our fifties, this has usually dropped down to 8,000 Hertz, still more than adequate (a Pavarotti high “C” is 1024 Hertz) but clearly heading south!

The rate and degree of hearing deterioration is partly hereditary and partly due to your environment. For most of us, however, taking a few simple measures will ensure that your hearing will be adequate until “the final curtain”.

My first suggestion is to calculate your total exposure to loud sounds, both in their duration and intensity. > read more

VN:F [1.7.5_995]
Rating: +4 (from 4 votes)