Protecting your hearing

[mindglow]

I work as an engineer in the studio aswell as working as a FOH technician. Last Saturday i mixed a band playing at a local rock club, and since then I have felt like theres something not quite right with my left ear. I can't pinpoint exactly what it is, but it feels like I'm not hearing as well as with my right one. When I compare by listening to the same material with one ear at a time, I can't tell any difference, but when listening to stereo mixes it doesn't sound as it used to.

I don't know exactly how loud the PA played that night as I didn't have a dB-meter, but I know that the sound level didn't feel at all uncomfortable to me, otherwise I would have decreased the master fader, and I don't recall any ringing in my ears after the gig (I usually don't play at such high levels at which i will get ringing in my ears afterwards).

Now four days after the gig, it doesn't feel better and I am going to try to see a doctor tomorrow to get my hearing checked out. One thing that worries me though is that I have FOH gigs booked both Friday and Saturday this week, what am I supposed to do? You can't do live sound with earplugs in can you? Even if I book these gigs off, what about the future? Live gigs is the only situation where I feel that I can't completely protect my hearing since I can't use earplugs while mixing and even if you try to keep levels down you'll have to compete with a loud drumkit, amps and stuff.

This was kind of a wake up call for me and if my hearing is damaged, I want to do everything I can to not make it worse.

[audioboy6]

I would think from how you are describing the situation that you didn't do any damage, unless you where in a loud environment for a really long time. There are several other factors that can contribute to your hearing.

Also I would not risk doing live sound with out having ear plugs available. I would suggest wearing them for most of the show and taking them out occasionally to check on the mix. Also if you get the custom ones from an audiologist they tend to attenuate frequencies a bit more evenly. making them much more tolerable to have in.

take care,
Jared

[audiovisceral]

same shit happened to me at as a patron at a nightclub once. my right's a bit worst than my left now. sucks and freaked me out, but not the end of the world. you get acclimated to it once you stop stressing about it.

for future protection, in loud foh/work/studio, wear plugs like these:

ER-20 Hi-Fidelity Ety-Plugs - Music & Concert Plugs

plugs take some getting used to as well. wear them around the house/studio for a while and it's easy to adapt your listening/mixing decisions to them.

[TonyBelmont]

Go to the doctor and make sure you don't have an ear infection... I had a similar experience and it turned out I had aggravated an ear infection that I didn't know I had.

Whenever my ears feel "not right", I immediately make an appointment to see my doctor that day. This is your career...