Today’s post is a guest blog from Dr. Thomas Norwood, an avid fan of music and hearing protection. Enjoy these tips from our in house musician expert!
One of the greatest challenges to musicians is protecting their hearing during live stage musical performances. Music venues, unfortunately, are not regulated and the sound intensity to musicians can be damaging. It is not uncommon to see sound levels exceed 120dB during rock performances. We sponsored concerts in the past and monitored the volume. Even though we requested that the audio engineer keep the intensity below 100dB, the level would creep up as the night progressed.
There are several monitoring options for the musician to minimize his or her exposure to these high noise levels and also reduce vocal strain from attempting to sing over the intense stage sound. One is to minimize the over all output and have the sound in front of the stage. Ear level monitoring can also provide the proper mix to each musician without cross talk from the stage monitors. It also forces the singer up to the microphone and minimizes vocal strain Raising the amplifiers off the floor will also require less power to drive the speakers and less stage output. Often drummers and bass players have difficult perceiving the bass and tend to turn up the volume to louder necessary levels. The use of bass shakers allows for improved low frequency vibrational feedback providing these musicians with better monitoring. Drummers tend not to play as loud and reduce the risk of arm and wrist injury. These are several steps musicians can take to minimize their exposure to dangerous onstage intensity levels to help prevent music induced hearing loss.
Should you have any questions, or are interested in learning more about in-ear monitors or musician earplugs contact our offices.