Best hearing protection for loud music?
Why is hearing protection for loud music a good idea?
It essentially boils down to ‘loads of loud music when you are younger likely means not hearing any music properly when you are older’. If you ever get that dull or muffled sensation in your ears after attending a gig or a club or an outdoor concert then your ears have been getting too much noise. Do that a few times and it will start to have a cumulative effect meaning you no longer hear anything in life the same as you did, including music.
If you are young, take it from an older chap now that it really does matter. In my more vibrant youth I was always in nightclubs and almost-weekly gigs and that dull feeling in the ears was a regular thing, but I was young and male which means stupid and invulnerable. Now in my 50s my hearing is fine for my age but the damage done back then mean no music now sounds clear or distinct - everything is muffled.
The damage from too much noise is permanent, there is no going back.
What does too much loud music do to ears?
You don’t really go ‘deaf’ as such, as in not everything gets quieter, that would actually not be too bad, but the effects of loud music are worse than that. Your ears don’t hear all sounds the same and you amplify certain frequencies which are critical to speech and that allows you to hear what people are saying when there is a lot of other noise around, however it also means those frequencies are damaged first. Too much loud music therefore takes away the ability to hear speech first, and makes everything more muffled and less crisp - future music will have far less definition and be less pleasant.
As you get older it gets very bad socially - if you are in a pub with friends you can’t hear a word people are saying. Last year I was in a pub in Manchester with three friends and we all spent too much time as youths in loud music, and eventually we had to go and sit outside in the rain as we couldn't follow a word anyone was saying when indoors with other people talking. So going to some clubs and music in our late-teens means sitting in a cold Manchester drizzle 30 years later.
When you are around noise you know someone is talking but don’t have a clue what it is they are saying. TVs sound garbled. Music sounds dull and muffled.
In addition, too much loud noise can cause tinnitus, a sensation of noises in your ears which aren’t really there. They can become permanent with too much loud music and that can be life-changing.
What to look for in hearing protection for music
Hearing protection is assessed independently and has three types of data as a result:
SNR: This is the Single Number Rating and is the total number of decibels the hearing protector reduces noise by.
HML: This is the number of decibels the hearing protector reduces noise by in frequency bands, High, Medium and Low.
APV: Ignore this one, it is a table of more individually defined figures and not overly helpful here.
Almost all hearing protection has certain frequencies at which it is most effective. Practically that means most hearing protection reduces different pitched sounds by differing amounts which can be important for listening to music. You don’t want something which knocks the bass down by more than the treble, or vice versa.
Reducing the volume is one thing, but avoiding changing how the music sounds is more important. Lower volume is OK, it just sounds the same but quieter, changing how the music sounds is bad.
All hearing protector manufacturers talk about how many decibels their hearing protection reduces noise by but that is a bit of a red herring. All hearing protection is better than nothing so it doesn’t matter overly much if it reduces the music by 20 or 25 decibels, what is important is what the hearing protection does to the pitches of the music.
HML is the most important information of all when choosing hearing protection for music as that tells you how much it changes the way the music sounds.
If companies have their hearing protection certified then they must have HML data.
How to use HML figures to choose hearing protection for music.
These are some example HML figures and how they are usually presented:
E-A-R Classic plugs - H30 M24 L22
Honeywell Max Lite plugs - H32 M32 L31
That means the E-A-R Classic (the squashy yellow foam plugs) reduce high pitches by 30 decibels but only reduce the low frequencies by 22 decibels. There is an 8dB difference between the two meaning they will make the music quieter but will also change how it sounds, which you don’t want.
The Max Lite only have a variation of 1dB between the low and high frequencies meaning they will have almost no impact on the way the music sounds. They will make it quieter but won’t change the pitches of the music.
When you are looking for hearing protection for music, ignore any sales guff about how many decibels the hearing protector reduces by where they only give one figure and make sure you can see the HML data, and the smaller the difference between the numbers the better. Any hearing protection which has a difference of 0 to 2dB between the H,M and L figures will have no noticeable change on the way music sounds. Those are the ones you want.
That doesn’t mean they are expensive:
Honeywell Max Lite plugs are about 16p a pair.
Arco Premium Plugs also have a 1dB difference and are about 12p a pair.
Uvex X-Fit plugs are another with a 1dB difference and only cost about 14p a pair.
KeepSafe Detectable Moulded Plugs have a 0dB difference, treat all frequencies the same, and are about 82p a pair but washable and reusable.
Basically, use HML figures in the sales listing, and the smaller the difference between these the better. SNR is less important here.
