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Best Ear and Hearing Protection for Drummer
How Does Being A Drummer Affect Your Hearing and Ears
Playing the drums leaves the ears exposed to sound levels of 100-115dB.
Musicians are said to be four times more likely to have a hearing loss than non musicians of the same age group.
Music Induced Hearing Loss
Constant exposure to the loudness level of music causes damage to the inner ear hair cells especially those responsible for high frequency hearing. 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.
As well as hearing protection, there are also other measures you can take to help your hearing last. One of these measures are called silent drum heads, which are pads that sit on top of your acoustic drum snare and toms. By placing these on top, you basically mute the sound of your acoustic drum kit, meaning that you'll be playing at a lower sound level. Below we look at some of the options for you and your kit to keep it playing at a lower decibel level.
Tips on Protecting Your Hearing Whilst Drumming
- Wear ear plugs whilst playing and practicing the drums
- Fitted ear plugs would improve the protection and mean you can still hear what you are playing
- Use dampening pads for an acoustic drum kit when your practising to severely reduce the volume
- Consider an electric drum kit, that way you can play it at your own volume and not one that damages your hearing
Best Ear and Hearing Protection for Drummers
When it comes to playing the drums the bottom line is it is very loud and it isn't a case of just blocking all that sound out as you need to be able to keep in time with the rest of your band. There are a few different options to consider for a drummer. While practising using dampening pads will help to reduce the overall sound a great deal, it is also worth considering whether an electric drum kit may suit you better or even a quieter and smaller acoustic drum kit like the Cajon kits. This provides control over the sound produced and when practicing does not impact on the hearing of those around you whilst still retaining a similar feel to a real, sull size drum kit.
The Crescendo Drummer's Ear Protection is made from medical grade, hypoallergenic TPE material. Comfortable to wear and have a 25dB flat response attenuation for you to hear everything you need to hear but at a lower level.
These ear plugs are CE and ANSI certified and a two year limited warranty. Inside this small ear plugs are a hidden complexity. There is an acoustic chamber which attenuates the sound and inbetween this and the ear plug itself is a tuned membrane providing linear sound transfer and sound dampening mesh.
These ear plugs are specifically designed for drummers, heavy metal or drum and bass.
The Vic Firth Drummer's Ear Protection headphones are isolation headphones they are not connected to anything there main purpose is to be ear defenders. These headphones block out a great deal of sound., infact 25dB These headphones can be worn with or without ear plugs inside your ear comfortably. As headphones go these are lightweight at around 300g.
If you do not particularly like things in your ears, or suffer with itchy ears you may find this a much better option. If you wear glasses it can be a little fiddly with the headphone set and as you can imagine due to needing to isolate your ears to attenuate the sound they need to be a tight fit so the bands to the side of the face are quite tight. There is also no adjustment in the headband itself which makes it not the most custom of fits to your head.
The headphones have a broad foam cushion making them excellent in terms of comfort for a number of hours of use. You might find your ears sweat a bit with wearing them but if you are already a drummer, this is something that happens to you already!
Drum mute pads and silencer pads which you add to the top of your toms and acoustic drum kit will deaden and completely silence your loud drum kit and help keep your hearing safe for years to come. If you don't like anything in your ears or on top of, I myself get itchy ears whilst drumming and sweat a lot and find it easier to play a kit quietly, you have this option.
As well as mute pads you can also get actual drum heads and cymbals which play at about 20% of the volume and noise level of regular drum heads and cymbals. Vic Firth do a Quiet Pack which replace your current acoustic drum heads and cymbals and play at a low level of noise. They do cost much more than earbuds or earmuffs, but if you are also thinking of protecting the hearing of others around you that share the same space as you, these could be a good option.