Richard Hawley

I've had slight tinnitus for a few years now mostly in the left ear. I've started wearing earplugs for practice but I find I can't wear them for playing gigs
Do any of you wear them for practice/gigs?

Pardon?

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http://www.nickbarberphotography.co.uk

I wear AirPlane Ear Plugs to most small noisy punk gigs, knocks out a fair bit of sound, unevenly, tend to lose out on a lot but gotta save the hearing!

Someone was saying to me recently, that Specsavers are now doing Hearing Tests and you can get Custom Attenuators for about €125/£100 and custom In Ear Monitors for about €200/£175.

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I wasn't born so much as I fell out.....

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http://www.myspace.com/aceswild59

I've tried a few (under £25 on ebay) but they all attenuate too much - I have to remove them to hear what people are saying! One has 3 separate plugins varying from "noisy pub" to "rock gig" to "DJ set" (no kidding!) but even the most moderate takes all the life out of the guitar sound. I'm told you get used to this...

That said, I wouldn't be stood by a drum kit in RH without 'em any more. Daft as it sounds, I unplug them slightly for live - if I can't hear the geetar properly, I play even crapper than usual. I wondered if chopping a bit off the end (ooer missus) might reduce attenuation, but haven't tried it yet.

With them fully in, you do get the benefit of not needing monitors, but it's a weird effect.

Hard to believe there isn't a simple solution.

i am so surprised i don't have any hearing problems after playing at ridiculous volume for so may years,i would advise you get some earplugs made for you if you can,but also wear them anyway to your gigs if its too loud......

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now,then!

I wear them now for watching gigs,they are special musicians ones. Don't bother when playing with my band, just can't get used to them with the singing.

I'm 50 and did an online hearing test on the RNID site and I was OK.Like Richard, v surprised especially when I think of how loud some gigs I've seen have been and been playing in bands since I was 17.