[Trombone-l] Ear Plugs

[George Carr]

> I have a set of ear plugs that were made for me with several inserts giving
> me different levels of protection (I believe they are called Musician's Ear
> Plugs).

I recently got a set of these, and here's my story about them:

New health insurance coverage (yay!) entitled me to a free 'complete
physical.'  Being 33 and having played trombone since age 10, I was
curious about my hearing.  It turned out that a thorough exam by an
audiologist was included, so I sat in a sealed room listening to
computer-generated tones through headphones and strategically spaced
speakers.  The results: despite abusing my ears for years (e.g. loud
practicing in small rooms, sitting next to the drumset in a big band
every week, and routinely listening to recorded music at
moderate-to-high volume) my ears were in excellent condition, still in
the condition regarded as typical for a healthy 20-year-old.

One anomaly in the results (i.e. an average reading in an otherwise
above-average results table) indicated a tiny loss in my left ear in
one frequency band; on discussion with the audiologist, it turned out
that the hole matched up with the lead trumpet range, and we suspected
I was being affected by the very musical, but very loud, lead
trumpeter in my big band.  So in an abundance of caution, I ordered
"musician's earplugs," which were custom fitted (a fun process, taking
molds of my ear canals) and included filters designed to evenly reduce
volume across all frequencies.  Unfortunately, not covered by my
otherwise excellent health insurance, so I paid $130 out of pocket for
them.

They were excellent at evenly reducing volume; I would highly
recommend them for rock/funk concertgoing (I like to stand in front of
the loudspeakers), and I had no trouble picking out individual
musicians in ensemble playing: e.g. the whole brass section was
quieter, with the same balance.  But the jawbone-conduction of sound
was a big distracting problem, and I frequently wore only one earplug
(on whichever side had the louder colleague) and left one ear open for
some sense of how my sound was fitting into the blend.  Based on what
my section-mates and colleagues were hearing, I had trouble matching
volume across the section; and not in just one fashion (e.g. I was
both too soft and too loud, from time to time).  And these are folks I
play with frequently, so it was more than just my usual problems with
playing accurate dynamics. :)

Also, the bone-conduction sound didn't always match the _pitch_ of my
open ear, which was really confusing, as I couldn't figure out the
cause; maybe my nasal cavities were resonating on a slightly different
frequency from the air column in the horn, or some other physiological
effect.

In any case, I ended up abandoning the earplugs.  I give my ears
plenty of rest -- I have a quiet day job, I spend long stretches of
quiet time with my new daughter -- and I still have no trouble
perceiving very soft sounds, like a neighbor's heat pump clicking on,
or a slight resonance from piano strings across the room when I sing
to my daughter a cappella.  So I'm willing to risk further un-plugged
playing, although I'm starting to wonder whether my ears are just
unusually robust and impervious to damage.  But if others have ideas
about compensating for the bone-conduction confusion I suffered, or
other tips for playing with earplugs, I could be persuaded to pull
them out again.

George