Whether you’re singing in the shower or singing on stage, music just makes life more enjoyable. Listening to music is a great way to relax, unwind and connect with friends and family. Unfortunately, if you’re a performing musician, music and hearing loss often go hand in hand: regular exposure to excessively loud noise from cheering fans and blasting speakers can cause significant damage to the inner ear.
Despite the risk that live music can present for hearing, hearing aids for musicians can improve and protect your hearing if you’re regularly around loud music. Read on to learn more about how these devices work and the best hearing aids for musicians.
Loud noises can potentially cause great damage to your hearing, either temporarily or permanently. Known as noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), this type of hearing damage can result from brief exposure to extremely high noise levels or repeated exposure to loud noises over an extended period of time. This hearing loss may look different for everyone, but three main factors determine the severity of noise-induced hearing damage: how loud the sound is, how close you are to it and how often you’re exposed to it. NIHL can happen quickly, but most often occurs gradually, which makes it hard to pinpoint the damage until it’s too late.
But how loud is too loud? Studies have shown that extended exposure to sound levels of 85 decibels (dB) or more can cause permanent hearing loss. That’s a sound level equivalent to a food blender, heavy traffic or a noisy restaurant. By comparison, the average concert clocks in at between 90 to 120 dB. This means that, especially as a musician regularly performing on stage, you’re often exposed to very high, damaging sound levels for long periods of time. This frequent sound exposure can destroy the sensitive hair cells of the inner ear, which help enable hearing. Once those hairs are damaged, they cannot be repaired, leading to hearing loss.
What does hearing loss sound like? Watch to experience firsthand the effects of hearing loss over time.
In order to understand how hearing aids can support your hearing loss as a musician, it’s important to first understand how hearing aids work. While hearing aid styles may have some slightly different features, all hearing devices have the same three basic components: a microphone, an amplifier and a receiver.
Sound enters the device through the microphone system. Next, it moves to the receiver through a wire. Finally, a built-in amplifier analyzes and boosts the sound to be loud enough to be heard in the ear and create a more natural listening experience.
While hearing aids are very important devices for people living with hearing loss, the devices can still present some initial challenges for musicians. Hearing devices of the past were designed primarily to offer the best hearing aid speech clarity possible—which in turn made music sound distorted or unnatural due to a difference in range between speech and music.
Hearing aids are designed to pick up on a normal human speech decibel and frequency range, which is typically 25 to 85 dB and 250 to 6,000 Hz. While this range is very useful for a typical conversation, it’s a lot smaller than what’s generally used in music. Music includes sounds that may be louder or softer, or lower- and higher-pitched than normal speech. Trying to apply a smaller framework to a larger range can be challenging for your hearing aids to process, causing music to sound flat and “tinny”.
However, as hearing aids have evolved and technology has improved, many hearing aids now come with settings specifically tailored to make hearing music easier. These specialized programs are designed to expand the hearing aid’s listening range and optimize sound quality to pick up lower frequencies or louder tones that might otherwise have been missed.
Learn about Bluetooth hearing aids! With Bluetooth® technology, your hearing aids become a gateway to a richer life.
As hearing aid technology has improved, so has the hearing aid/music listening experience. This is thanks in part to hearing aid programs, or pre-programmed settings in the hearing aids that allow you to transition between listening environments more easily. Most modern hearing aids offer music programs that can be customized to align with your lifestyle, allowing you to listen and enjoy your favorite music in high quality.
With the help of a hearing aid music setting, you provide the listener wider and more dynamic range of pitches and sounds, understand lyrics and hear a more full sound, improving overall listening experience.
Miracle-Ear offers three music programs—Performer, Concert and Playback—to musicians and music fans alike. Speak with a licensed hearing care professional (HCP) at Miracle-Ear to discuss what hearing aid programs would best suit your needs. Your HCP can also help you customize settings for your unique hearing and how you’ll be using your hearing aids.
The best hearing aids for musicians—or anyone, for that matter—are the hearing aids that meet your specific degree of hearing loss. Certain styles of hearing aids are designed to support certain severities of hearing loss. Review what styles might be best for your type of hearing loss:
Discuss your hearing loss and your lifestyle needs with your HCP at your local Miracle-Ear center. They’ll be able to offer recommendations for the styles of hearing aids that can meet your hearing loss needs and align with your lifestyle.
The style of hearing aids that will work best for you is entirely dependent on your degree of hearing loss and your lifestyle needs. However, the best hearing aids for streaming music are generally those with Bluetooth® capabilities. Not only is Bluetooth a useful tool in streaming calls from your phone, but it can also be used to stream music or other audio directly in your ears.
Many modern hearing aid styles offer these features. If your devices don’t offer Bluetooth capabilities, consider direct audio input or other streamers that can be used alongside your hearing aids to listen to music. Your HCP can also help program your hearing aids for optimal sound when listening to live music.
In addition to hearing aids, there are several types of assistive listening devices that can help musicians hear and enjoy music while living with hearing loss:
For musicians or fans looking to enjoy a personalized listening experience, headphones can provide a quality listening experience. Because of the quality of modern-day headphone technology, the sound produced by headphones has never been better. Headphones also come in a variety of sizes and styles, allowing wearers to choose a design that can be worn comfortably.
Despite their benefits, headphones for musicians can also pose a risk to users with hearing loss. This direct exposure to high volumes, often for long periods of time, can cause or exacerbate cases of noise-induced hearing loss. Practice healthy headphone usage by keeping volume at a reasonable level and taking breaks from listening.
For musicians and fans who enjoy shows in amphitheaters, parks or theaters, telecoils and induction loops can make listening easier in public venues. Telecoils, or t-coils, are small, copper wires that receive electromagnetic signals from a variety of sources and are found in most hearing aids. Hearing loops, sometimes called induction loops, are assistive listening systems in most public spaces that emit a magnetic, wireless signal.
When telecoil hearing aid users are near a hearing loop and their t-coils are activated, any audio broadcasted through the venue’s audio system will be sent directly to the telecoil in the device. This direct, personalized feature offers a wider listening range, especially in open, noisy environments where ambient sound can be difficult to hear clearly, like lecture halls or churches. Telecoil technology also eliminates unwanted background noise and directs sound into your ears, increasing your listening comprehension and enjoyment.
While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires hearing loops to be provided in many public areas such as movie theaters, performance halls and outdoor spaces, some venues may not offer this technology. Some spaces may use different types of assisted listening systems, such as infrared systems or FM/DM systems that may not be compatible with all types of hearing aids.
While hearing aids are a powerful tool to improve your ability to hear, especially in crowded environments, remote microphones can offer additional support to hear others around you. A remote mic works by the speaker wearing a small microphone near their mouth, and their speech is then transmitted through Bluetooth into your hearing aids. This can be a helpful tool during rehearsals or when attending a concert with a friend.
This technology can be incredibly useful for musicians with hearing aids, but it’s important to keep in mind that distance can disrupt this technology. The farther apart the speaker and the hearing aid user are from each other, the more easily the Bluetooth signal can be disrupted and the more likely it is for unwanted background noise to interfere with conversations.
For musicians who love to listen to music, audio streamers can provide excellent sound quality directly into your ears. Also known as sound streamers, these devices, which are pieces of hardware connected to your audio source, use a Bluetooth signal to transmit sounds from your music player, television or phone into your hearing aids. Not only does this technology eliminate the need to switch between headphones and hearing aids to listen to music, but audio streaming can also improve sound clarity and listening experience for hearing aid users.
While this technology can make it easier to enjoy listening to music, it’s only possible with a strong Bluetooth connection. Unstable Bluetooth connections can disrupt your listening experience or warp sound quality. All devices—including hearing aids, music players or smartphones—must be Bluetooth-enabled to properly transmit sound into your hearing aids.
As a musician, protecting your hearing is vital to your long-term hearing health. Explore the musician ear protection methods below to ensure that your hearing is protected while you continue to enjoy the music you love.
If you’ve ever watched a live performance, you’ve likely noticed small devices connected by wires in the performer’s ears. They aren’t just earplugs—these devices are in-ear monitors, or IEMs. These devices, which are generally custom-fitted to a musician’s ear, block out stage noise while feeding a balanced mix of vocals and instruments directly into their ear. Because of this, IEMs eliminate the need for the classic black wedge speakers at the front of the stage, cutting down on the raw noise being directed at the performing musician.
While IEMs can help drastically cut down exposure to loud noises on stage, they aren’t a perfect substitute for more traditional hearing protection since audio is feeding directly into the ear, sometimes at decibel levels that are too high. The devices are also more expensive than other kinds of hearing protection and tend to be most useful for performing musicians. However, if your lifestyle demands frequent on-stage performances, IEMs can provide a protective solution.
From soft, malleable foam earplugs to protective earmuffs, there are numerous types and styles of earplugs available for music lovers and musicians to wear when attending shows. While any type of hearing protection is better than no protection, choosing custom earplugs can provide a higher level of comfort, fit and protection for musicians with hearing loss.
Because custom earplugs are fitted exactly to the specifications of your ears, they’ll fit more comfortably in your ears than a one-size-fits-all pair. Custom fitting also ensures that the earplugs fill the ears correctly to block out sound and stay firmly in the ears. Musicians’ earplugs also offer higher sound quality while still including noise-blocking filters, creating a more enjoyable listening experience than the muffled experience of standard earplugs.
One downside to custom earplugs is that they can be significantly more expensive than standard drugstore earplugs. However, given the protection, sound quality and personalization offered, custom earplugs may be worth the investment if you’re regularly around music.
If you’re practicing your instrument at home or listening back to a recording, make sure that you’re listening at an appropriate volume. Constant exposure to loud music, especially during long practice sessions, can cause damage to your ears in the long run. To ensure that your music isn’t at a harmful decibel level, consider using a volume limiter or a decibel app on your phone.
Volume limiters set a limit on how loud your music can be, meaning you won’t be able to turn up the music too loud. Decibel meter apps on your phone can also gauge sound levels in your surroundings, alerting you if your volume is at an unsafe level. Together, these two tools can make sure that your listening is as safe as it is enjoyable.
If you’ve noticed a change in your hearing or tinnitus after regular exposure to loud music at concerts, it may be time to schedule an appointment with a licensed HCP at a Miracle-Ear hearing aid center. Your HCP will be able to test your hearing to give an accurate diagnosis of your degree of hearing loss.
They’ll also be able to provide recommendations for the best hearing aids to meet your needs, including device size and strength, fit and additional technology features. This way, you’ll be able to find a pair of hearing aids that aligns with your lifestyle and allows you to continue to enjoy the music you love. Schedule an appointment at a Miracle-Ear near you today.
