How to Protect Your Ears
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A while ago we asked you readers about what kinds of tutorials you
would like to see next. While I went over the very informative list I
stopped at a reader’s suggestion. This reader kindly told us that we
haven’t been focusing on the most natural thing we audio enthusiasts
use. Namely, our ears. Our ears are the most important aspect of our
music production, without them there wouldn’t be much music would
there? Music to our ears would be a mute point, no pun intended…
Now there are a few aspects we should keep in mind when we’re
listening to, recording or mixing music. You should be aware of
acceptable monitor levels and the amount of time you should dedicate
to mix work. Our spectrum of hearing also changes over time and there
are certain things you need to be aware of when trying for that ultra
high end sheen. The sad truth is that some people suffer from hearing
related illnesses that can ruin your career unless you take good care
of your ears.
Acceptable Monitor Levels
You should be aware of the volume of the music you are mixing. The
louder you listen to your mixes, the easier your ears get tired.
After mixing for a few hours at an ultra high level your ears don’t
respond as well to frequency nuances and you won’t be able to make
the correct judgement calls your mixes need.
Volume is measured in dBSPL which stands for Decibel Sound
Pressure Level, or rather the level of sound pressure measured in
decibels. Our threshold of hearing starts at 0 dBSPL and goes up to
140 dBSPL which is a level so loud that it destroys your hearing. The
threshold of pain is at the 120dBSPL level.
This graph can give you a pretty good idea of the typical sound
pressure levels in decibels. We can see how everything below 40 dBSPL is
considered to be very quiet. Anything below 20dBSPL is considered
studio acceptable, meaning that a control room that has a so called
Noise Rating of 20 means that the decibel level of the control room
with everything turned on is below 20 decibels. Decibel calculations
are not lineal. By that I mean that the jump between 20dB and 40dB is
not double the volume. Instead it is almost 4 times louder!
Now, in order to get a good bearing on how loud you listen to your
mixes you will have to buy a decibel meter and physically measure the
noise level yourself. But you can get away with the graph above and
others like it to get a pretty good idea of the volume of your mixes.
In context of correct and acceptable monitoring levels it’s a good
starting point to start at 90dB. This is quite loud but it is
generally accepted that you can work up to 8 hours at that volume. 90
dBSPL is also where your ears hear all frequencies in the most
balanced manner, according to the Fletcher Munson Curve.
Fletcher
and Munson curve
As you you can see by the Fletcher and Munson curve your ears need
more level in order to perceive the lower frequencies at the same
level as the others. Our ears are designed in such a way that we are
most sensitive to the frequency area where speech is located. So the
area around 1 Khz, where we most easily hear human speech is most
sensitive and less susceptible to volume changes, as we can still
hear that frequency area at a very low level.
So, if we say that we can monitor best frequency wise, and for a
solid 8 hours at 90dBSPL, how long can we monitor at 93dBSPL?
4 hours.
4 hours? Half the time, but only 3 dBs more?
Yes, because 3 dBs more are twice the power, we can only
comfortably monitor for half the amount of time. And so, step by
step, with every 3 dB we cut our time in half. We
love graphs, so here’s a graph:
Decibel level | Amount of time mixing |
90 dB | 8 hours |
93 dB | 4 hours |
96 dB | 2 hours |
99 dB | 1 hours |
102 dB | 30 minutes |
105 dB | 15 minutes |
108 dB | 7.5 minutes |
111 dB | approx. 4 minutes |
114 dB | 2 minutes |
117 dB | 1 minutes |
120 dB | Only 30 seconds! |
You see how sensitive our hears become
as the sound around us becomes louder? They can’t handle that much
noise for such a long period of time, that’s why we get ringing in
our ears after loud concert nights, really busy bars and very long
mixing sessions. Your ears get tired and are trying to tell you to
take a break. There’s no use in trying to mix after such a long
exposure to loudness anyway. Your frequency judgement gets screwed up
anyway.
Frequency
Spectrum of Hearing
It is usually said that the human hearing ranges from 20 Hz to 20
Khz. The sad truth is that as we get older that high end we got when
we were children and teenagers is lost on us as grownups. We tend to
lose around 2 Khz every ten years. Here’s another graph to explain:
Age | Frequency range |
20 years | 20 Hz – 18 Khz |
30 years | 20 Hz – 16 Khz |
40 years | 20 Hz – 14 Khz |
50 years | 20 Hz – 12 Khz |
60 years | 20 Hz – 10 Khz |
70 years | 20 Hz – 8 Khz |
80 years | 20 Hz – 6 Khz |
I took a frequency test a while ago and
I could only hear frequencies up to around 17.7 Khz. Which, as a 24
year old is pretty good I think. Of course, the graph is not a
definite indicator of the frequencies you can and cannot hear at a
certain age. Obviously it varies from person to person. I know
individuals that are in their early twenties and they can’t even hear
up to 15 Khz, and there are probably engineers in their thirties that
can still hear that ultra high end. But this tells us one thing; our
hearing will get worse as we age, but we should try to do everything
in our power, as musicians, producers and engineers to try to slow
down that degeneration as much as possible.
Like I said before, listen to your
music at moderate levels, and not only when you are working on it,
but also when you are listening to your enjoyment. Use earplugs in
high noise situations, such as concerts and any type of situation
where you think your hearing might be compromised. When working as a
live sound engineer I used to take ear plugs with me to concerts.
After I had set the correct levels of the band and had everybody
sounding good I put on my earplugs in order to protect my hearing. I
would occasionally take them out to see if everything was running
smoothly, but working with headphones didn’t tire my ears as much. I
mixed better because my ears were always at full alert, not exhausted
after long noise exposure.
Conclusion
Wrapping things up, I think I made my point very clear. Our ears
are our most valuable asset. It doesn’t matter if we have the
greatest sounding pre-amps in the world, the warmest microphones or
the clearest monitors. If we don’t hear the quality, it won’t matter
at all. Take care of your ears, monitor correctly, take breaks from
mixing and use ear protection when necessary. It will result in a
longer and more successful career if you have ears you can trust.
One last note: If you have any special stories, good or bad,
regarding the topics I touched upon please feel free to let us know
in the comments. As audio enthusiasts, we’d like to hear how you plan
on protecting your ears.
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Thanks for writing this article. Hopefully it will encourage some people to turn the volume down. I hope the trend of listening to music at full blast will end. At least once a day on the subway I see someone with earbuds in at the other end of the train and can hear the music they’re listening to.
i’ve heard that the pitch ringing in your ears after a loud concert is usually a pitch you’ll never hear again–meaning you’re deaf from that frequency. is that true?
what do you think?
Yeah, they say that ringing is a certain frequency dying, So let’s say 1324Hz is dying in your ears, but you still hear all the other frequencies around it. So it’s not like you’re losing an octave in hearing(which would be baaaaaad)
I think this is true, but not 100% positive.
The way I understand it, when the ear is hit by a very sound sound it attempts to prevent further damage by “tensing up”. That is the ringing you hear. It takes a while for the ear to relax again. It may not be indicative of immediate hearing loss but it’s certainly a red flag.
And besides that the ringing can come from many different causes different from hearing trauma, like ear wax, ear fluids, ..
Absolutly brilliant and VERY usefull tutorial.
we have been having problems at work with decibel levels with us being a school, and this will provide me with an excellent port of call for demonstration.
thanks a bunch.
I always keep a couple of sets of the simple foam earplugs with me. There have been numerous occasions where I’ve been out somewhere and ended up in an unexpected in a high-decibel situation. Having those handy has proved to be an ear saver.
I plan on buying a lifetime supply of earplugs
People new to this topic might like to know that there are earplugs that dim all frequencies evenly, so you don’t get that feeling that you’re standing behind a shut door. I didn’t see this in the article. Maybe i missed it.
Yeah, custom earplugs are a fantastic option for any musician or engineer that must be exposed to high SPL levels on a frequent basis.
Basically, you go to your local audiologist, they make a mold of your ear and fashion custom ear plugs. The frequency attenuation on them is much more even, and many models even have filters you can switch in and out, depending on your needs.
Generally, they cost around 150-200 dollars, which isn’t bad for custom reusable ear plugs!
Link: http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/erme.aspx
That company used to sell really inexpensive plugs that dim evenly. I didn’t however find them anymore.
Something else to be aware of is that your perception of pitch is affected by the volume. At high SPLs it’s more difficult to make precise judgements about pitch. If a vocalist has the headphones cranked up too loud they simply cannot distinguish small variations in pitch. If the engineer is monitoring too loudly he may not notice that the pitch is off either.
For monitoring you need best a good pair of transparent monitors that don’t fatigue. (I use Mackie’s but there certainly are other good brands as well)
The problem with cheap monitors is that you miss clarity and space, so to hear everything correctly you will want to augment the volume.
With my monitors, i work at around 60-70dBSPL, and only turn up when mixing to around 80 or 90 for short periods of time.
That way it’s possible to work around the clock and not have tired ears.
Thanks for this great article. It’s kinda hard to imagine how to create music if your ears are shot to pieces. For myself, RSI is an equally important occupational hazard – can’t create music on the computer if you can’t type or use the mouse!!!
I’m the one that suggested about protecting ears article….
I’ve been having a very rough time lately, I had an inner-ear inflammation without knowing and I spent a normal 4 hour studio session with frequent breaks monitoring between 70-100 db.
That was it : I got some hearing loss in my right and that ringing you’re all been saying about NOW IT IS PERMANENT AND IT’s LITERALLY DRIVING ME MAD! I’m also suffering from hyperacusis which is the worst of all…. which is hypersensitivity to normal everyday sounds like talking, cluttering of plates, running water etc…
I cannot listen a whole song in barely audible volume until my ears gets fatigued like after a 16 hour concert….
Please PEOPLE DO TAKE CARE OF YOUR EARS! I have to currently stop my production career, 20,000 euros spent in my studio for nothing…and my current quality of living dropped significantly
I hope I can recuperate in some way or another because i know friends of mine who had this and they are feeling ok now…
If you do pray, Please remeber me on your prayers because that’s the only hope i’ve got.
Thanks and Live a happy music life
I am really sorry to hear that. I cannot imagine how hard it must be.
But I hope other readers take notice and take better care of their ears. They are your most valuable possession in this line of work.
Looking after your listening has to be one of the most fundamental matters you can do. Take it from me, somebody who sufferred listening damager early on. As a result, I really like taking care hearing and whilst I do agree with the above poster and I really hope I do not get shot down for saying this, but I think it is important to take all things in moderation.
This is a brilliant article. Thankyou for sharing this. I am a young producer/engineer, 19 years old, currently on a production degree course. I have trouble with my left ear which was hit badly by an unexpected feedback, causing a small dip around 1k which as a result skews my stereo imaging in that area. The most annoying factor is on that same day i had been given the a-okay from a hearing test and also had a pair of ACS ear plugs on order that I was waiting for. Having been a trumpet player for the past 12 years I also have a small amount of tinittus and accepting these problems is something I found quite hard for a long time. I have now however reached the point where I can accept my ears are what they are and I can only progress by gaining a strong understanding of the response of my ears and mixing accordingly. Your article was very beneficial however, thankyou for posting this!