Hi All,

We're just coming up to the end of Don't Lose the Music Week and I'm doing my bit for charidee, mate... I hope you don't mind if I take a moment of your life to explain what it all means to me and about my experiences - despite being a DSI newbie! DLtM is a campaign run by the RNID; it’s about increasing awareness of the damage which can be caused to our hearing from regular and prolonged exposure to loud music at gigs, clubs and even on personal music players.

Don’t get me wrong, we all like it loud, so damn loud the bass is pounding in your chest; the all-enveloping acid lines etc, but this can come at a cost. I’ve been loving it loud for the past decade or so but on some of the longer nights I started to notice that, as the night drew on and the system got turned up, the music started to become less distinguishable; highs would screech in my ears and keys would sound out of place (more so than pitch-shifted on a turntable) but I didn’t want to be the one to stick my hand up and say “does anyone think it’s too loud?” The more I DJ’d, the more clubs I went to, the more noticeable the ringing in my ears became the morning after... sometimes stretching for days after. The ringing subsides of course, and it’s such a relief when it does. So you get used to it; ringing ears is just a part of the party, right? Yes, but more disturbingly, ringing ears is a part of gradual and permanent hearing loss.

My first experience of ear plugs wasn’t a good one; some friends and I took the advice of an attendant at a Prodigy concert in Brixton back in '96 and we bought some disposable foam plugs. The only other types I knew about were custom made plugs which the top jocks were shelling out hundreds for. Down the front though I could barely hear anything so I thought sod that and promptly suffered a week of ear come-down hell. Now, I can’t remember how I found www.dontlosethemusic.com, but it was about a year ago. I discovered, to my surprise, that inexpensive re-usable ear plugs exist which actually attenuate the sound waves coming into your ears - basically lessening the volume in your lug ’oles without losing any clarity. So I bought myself a pair, I mean, for 15 quid it was worth a go. I was apprehensive about using them at first; what would people think?! They took a fair bit of getting used to; a bit like twiddling the left and right dials of a mixer input. Now though I won’t hesitate to use them and the sound quality is just right the whole night; especially for the two-odd hours when my ears are next to a pair of monitors which are competing with the main system! It's also very surprising how discreet they are because I've had to point them out to people. They come with a handy key-ring pouch, ‘applicator’ and second set of 'extreme' attenuators. When it comes to the end of the night I pull them out - no ringing; bliss.

Music, for me, is the most important thing in my life next to family - I don’t know what I would do without it - but I now know what I can do to keep it forever and enjoy it just as much.

Don’t Lose the Music.

PS, I got my plugs from here.

Thanks for this, was in some shitty club back home last night, sound system was awful, don't know why but everyone who wents ears are really fucked today, sound is proper muffled and ringing is really bad, never had it this bad before, bad shit, will invest.

J-Dubya - what is the name of the ear-plugs u bought ?

Good stuff, awareness defintely needs to be raised about this.

Danny-D - yeah ive noticed its the shitty systems in smaller places that do much more damage than in bigger clubs. Theyre not set up/EQ'd properly, the DJ twats the levels up too much and it distorts the sounds.

Definitely worth investing in some good earplugs...

Go to Geraldine Daly. She's a top specialist at 55 Harley Street. Her number is 020 7323 2076.

check this thread LINKY

ear plugs go with me everywhere!

i got a bag of foams in my record bag, theyre no good for when ur playing. but in between sets they're a godsend!

Thru my website www.jaycox.co.uk you can get custom made ear plugs for just £55!!!! I made a deal with him to encourage people using them! :)

He comes out a meets you if you want him too..

Jay..

J-Dubya - what is the name of the ear-plugs u bought ?
si-sez, they're called Alpine Hearing Protection and I bought them from Sensorcom and you can see my wearing them at my last gig here.

Good stuff, awareness defintely needs to be raised about this.
OliverJames, if you want to get involved, get onto www.dontlosethemusic.com. If you run a night or work in a nightclub, they can give you fliers and posters to raise awareness - stuff aimed at clubbers or venue owners/promoters.

Cheers, Jay, I'll have a look.

Yeh man, 24 hours later and ears still really bad, getting some of these tomorrow for sure. Oliver you're right and I'm well pissed off, must have been pumping some nasty sounds down my lug hole all night

TURN THE MONITOR DOWN THEN !!!!!!!! oops soz for shoutin... !!!! ;)

Ear plugs are such definitely the way forward...i love mine and the fact that when you take them out at the end of a night out u dont have any ringin at all....it's made me so much more aware of the damage that not wearing them does!

I got some from Above and Beyonds website, £13 bargain. they are rarley in stock though (just like the t-shirts!!)

Def! Started wearing them after I went to amnesia! enjoyed the second night more, and they where just crappy foam ones! Went to crank last night in Bournemouth and my ears where really bad yesterday and today, never been this bad before.

i've been using alphine music safe pro - they are attenuating - they are good - the gold ones are for DJs and i don't go to bed with ringing ears anymore - hurrah. try earplugshop.com - it's scary now to think of the damage i've been doing to my ears all this time...kids should be educated and get earplugs at their first music experiences...i've started seeing kids wearing plugs at gigs with their right on parents...it's good to see...they'll be thanking their parents one day!
earplugshop.com

kids should be educated

I agree. Support the RNID's efforts, spread the word!

www.dontlosethemusic.com
www.myspace.com/dontlosethemusic

Took me ages to finally start using plugs... Found some new ones from all earplugs which are designed to attenuate across all frequencies - just takes the edge off with 12dB reduction... High Fidelity Hear Plugs.

RNID are doing a great job helping promte ear protection. To be honest this is a biased post. I recently started a website to sell earplugs online ( I am a bit time raver) and therefore am very mindful of the needs of poepl who work in and listen to lound music.

I am trying to get hold of Alpine to stock their range of earplugs as they are really good. In the meantime I do actually have a large range of silicone ear plugs at good prices if anyone is interested.

ta. John.