Recording Engineering Tip: Protect Your Ears

I remember back when I was a youngster, the thought of things like race cars, a great sounding sound systems, gun shots, air planes, concerts etc. were all awesome and the louder the better. Ear plugs were not an option, listing to music or playing video games at normal listening levels were not an option.

But if you plan on working in music or any type of audio recording than you need to treat your ears like you want them to last for a while. It's bad enough as we get older are bodies get older and get tired, and your ears are no different.

Although you can't stop your ears from getting older you can help them last longer by avoiding unneeded punishment. Knowing your surroundings and using your common since should let you know if something is to loud for your open ears to listen to.

Even though it might seem like the manly thing to do, listen to things with out your ears protected at full volume, but as manly as it may seem, how manly is wearing a hearing aid for the last thrity years of your life.

My grandfather worked in a factory for 30 years, OSHA was not a factor and ear plugs were not required. My whole life my Grandfather has had to wear a hearing aid and respond to every question with, "ha, what, can you repeat yourself."




For each 3 dB (decibels) you increase the sound, you need to cut the time your ears are exposed to those loud sounds in half. Here's a chart to help you figure out if what you expose your ears to is to much.

85 dB	8 hrs
88 dB	4 hrs
91 dB	2 hrs
94 dB	1 hr
97 dB	30 min
100 dB	15 min
103 dB	8 min
106 dB	4 min
109 dB	2 min
111 dB	1 min
114 dB	30 sec
117 dB	15 sec
120 dB	8 sec
123 dB	4 sec
126 dB	2 sec
129 dB	1 sec

A db test is not too expensive and can be bought in many places about the Internet. But again, I would have to say that common since should tell you what is to loud for your ears. If you want to be recording music past the age of 60, then you need to be protecting your ears now.