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What are the reasons for wanting precise sound when we listen to music? Music is important. The brain responds to it. Music really does soothe and stimulate us.

Yes, it can feel sometimes like there’s simply too much of it, given away and listened to too cheaply for something that has such a potentially transformative effect.

How we treat music and how we listen to it is up to us.

Therefore, should we not strive for the best possible quality when listening to music?

Here’s a thing: you probably won’t even realise what precise sound is like until you experience it. The earphones and headsets you‘ve used over the years could have been letting you down all this time.

If you care about music here are the key reasons why custom earphones, fitted especially for your ears, could be the answer to your search for precise sound.

Music Has Benefits

People love listening to music and in fact music has psychological benefits – psychologists at the McGill University in Montreal published research showing that patients about to undergo surgery had a reduction in anxiety when listening to music.

Other research shows that music releases dopamine, the feel-good transmitter that causes people to feel emotions like happiness, joy and excitement.

Music lowers stress and improves health. It can decrease the amount of cortisol in the body helping us feel less stressed during the day. It can also help with insomnia and depression, while elevating mood and helping with concentration.

It follows then that if music is good for us, listening to it with the best quality audio earphones can only help transmit its benefits to us better.

The Search for Precise Sound 

In recent years, headphones have taken the lead in popularity when it comes to personal music listening. Many people find headphones sound deeper, fuller, with better bass than earbuds. Plus they don’t come with the issue of getting them to fit in the ear properly.

However, you’d hardly call headphones convenient. They’re big and bulky, and they’re certainly impractical if you’re taking them out and about when keeping fit.

But for the audio fanatic, the music enthusiast, the professional, in fact for anyone who cares enough about the quality of what they’re listening to, there is a specialist in-ear solution.

The principle is straightforward: instead of trying to find earphones that will fit your ears, you get earphones whose shape is based on the specific shape of your ear canal.

It’s the difference between getting something off the shelf and having it tailor-made just for you.

The result is a perfect seal, a custom sleeve of silicon to give the wearer perfect, precise sound. Each pair of earphones is a unique fit.

What Do Custom Earphones Sound Like?

Firstly, there’s the silence. When you first wear them it’s like reinventing noise-cancellation. The silence feels absolute. This silence is like a blank canvas for the music you’re about to hear.

Then there is the detail. This is like listening to music without compromise. No external noise or artificial noise suppression. You are in your own musical isolation tank here, enjoying your own, unique, listening experience.

Furthermore, the quality of the fit helps to protect your hearing because you no longer need to listen at high volume.

Perfection is an Investment

“You will need an audiologist’s impression of your outer ear on which to base your custom earphones. But perfection is an investment. The rewards are audible. What you then hear will fully justify your time, effort and resources.

“If you want to hear music at a personal level in such a way that it reinvents the whole experience for you, then choose dB Hearing’s custom earphones and sleeves.”

Paul Thorpe, Laboratory Manager, dB Hearing

While increasing numbers of professional musicians recognise the need to protect themselves from hearing damage when playing, not all of them act to do so. The risk to musicians’ hearing is real, but for many, this fails to translate into action.

There are two main things to consider here:

• what affects musicians’ hearing; and
• whether they are doing anything about it.

At dB Hearing we’ve developed our ER Series hearing protection custom earplugs with musicians in mind, and we think it’s important for anyone involved with music to be aware of what’s at stake.

How Hearing Damage Happens

The human ear is a mini-miracle of engineering. Sound passes through various parts of the ear towards the nerve endings that carries it to the brain, which then makes sense of it all.

It starts with variations in air pressure coming down through the ear canal to the ear drum, which then vibrates and transmits these vibrations to the middle ear. Three bones there then work mechanically to transmit the vibrations to the inner ear, while also protecting it by limiting the strength of the sound waves, if they seem too intense.

Once the sound wave hits the inner ear, it goes through the cochlea, a fluid-filled tube, to disturb the nerve endings, known as cilia. These transmit this disturbance to the brain, through auditory nerves. Which is how we hear.

When the cilia become damaged from exposure to loud sounds, they can no longer respond to sound waves.

This can show up as either:

• a temporary threshold shift; or
• a permanent threshold shift.

The ear can recover from a temporary threshold shift, but a permanent threshold shift means there has been some degree of irrevocable hearing loss, and increasing the risk of eventual deafness.

Symptoms of Hearing Damage

Ringing in your ears, tinnitus, indicates a loss of sensitivity. It may be subtle enough to be hardly noticeable – unless the background noise levels are unusually quiet – but it is a loss none the less.

A loss of clarity and illegibility, however, is not something a professional musician needs, when you consider that hearing is an essential part of their livelihood.

With a temporary threshold shift, the symptoms will go away after a day or so, but when it’s permanent, this kind of damage can end up being debilitating. If exposure to loud sound levels continues – and for musicians it’s likely to – the symptoms such as tinnitus can become severe.

There is no definitive cure.

Musicians at Risk

Many musicians may encounter the typical hazards of playing on the road such as hostile or indifferent audiences, fatigue, long periods of travel disturbing sleep patterns and such like. But the most persistent hazard they face is hearing damage.

Consider the standard band’s rhythm section of drummer and bassist. Drummers are especially at risk, from both the strong impact from things like cymbals and snares, mounted at ear level; to exposure from other musicians’ amplifiers on stage.

Similarly, bass players are often positioned very near to drummers, so are at risk from exposure to the loud volumes generated.

In fact, a bassist may habitually stand in a position where one ear has a far greater exposure than the other.

However, everyone involved is potentially at risk, from musicians to sound technicians.

Preserve and Protect

Musicians make their living with their ears. They spend hours in practice, and performing, listening and playing.

Therefore, it makes sense for them to protect this, their chief asset. The issue, though, is how to do this without compromising their abilities.

Often, musicians can hear things other people can’t, and have better auditory perception. What they then need is something that preserves this perception but protects their hearing through noise reduction.

The ER Series high fidelity custom earplugs are designed to offer excellent audio fidelity while reducing sound levels.

Normally, the ear canal has an acoustic resonant peak of around 17 dB at 2700 Hz. Musicians may be reluctant to put an earplug in if it then muffles this resonance.

Hi fidelity earplugs, however, that are custom-made to fit the individual ear, allow for flat, smooth attenuation, preserving the detail while protecting hearing.

Time to Act

“It’s time for musicians to act. Custom earplugs can offer the right level of protection from hearing damage while not impeding a musician’s ability to hear sound at the required level to perform at their best.

“Hearing damage can be permanent. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Why risk your livelihood when there is an alternative?”

Paul Thorpe, Laboratory Manager, dB Hearing

I would like to thank Paul and his team at Universal for their support, I have been using the water barrier ear protection for the last two years, this allows me to train ten times a week with the knowledge of no ear problems that would get in the way of my training programme leading up to the British Championships

The assumption for many, when they think of musicians and hearing loss, is that those most at risk are playing electric instruments in a band.

It is though, classical musicians who may be more at risk.

They have a higher rate of hearing loss than rock musicians because of their proximity to loud instruments. In fact, loud music from any part of an orchestra can be the cause of hearing loss.

Professional musicians see hearing loss as an occupational hazard, but must it be this way, or is there a means of offering hearing protection to classical musicians that will work for them?

At dB Hearing, we’ve developed our ER Series of custom earplugs to help musicians with this problem.

The Risk to Classical Musicians

One Finnish study of classical musicians found that 15% suffered permanent tinnitus, this was in comparison to 2% of the general population.

No only this, but a further 41% suffered temporary tinnitus, and 43% from hyperacusis – a reduced tolerance to specific sound levels.

The threat of hearing loss adds to the stress that many classical musicians already feel comes with the job.

Classical musicians may, typically, find themselves exposed to loud noise daily for five to six hours.

There is a wide range of instruments in an orchestra capable of generating decibel levels above the safe threshold:

• a flute can produce 95dB of noise;
• a French horn can reach 106dB;
• trumpets may exceed 114dB; and
• even a double bass may reach 83dB.

An orchestra is a noisy work environment, with all the risks to hearing that can entail.

Should Classical Musicians Use Hearing Protection?

Various instruments pose threats to hearing: the soaring fanfares of French horns may lead to hearing problems in up to a third of players; and for violinists, the closeness of the instrument to their ears makes them prone to hearing loss.

However, few classical musicians use hearing protection. Why is this?

Many find it hard to play while using hearing protection. They are so attuned to listening carefully to the music played around them, to which they contribute, that anything that alters the sound they hear feels disruptive.

While some may persist in thinking that the noise exposure they get is not sufficient to warrant protection, others simply find that using ear plugs reduces their perceived capability to hear sound properly.

Can Musicians Adapt?

The issue might be one of adapting to technological advances.

DB Hearing’s ER Series custom earplugs are designed to enhance while protecting hearing, through patented acoustical chambers.

The result is to reduce noise but not to restrict sound.

As such, musicians wearing the ER series will hear all the detail, but at a reduced volume, to protect their hearing from damage.

For many classical musicians, then, it becomes about adapting how they hear what they think of as natural sound, without it impairing performance.

For some, it may be a case of choosing a level at which they can comfortably accommodate noise filtering, even if this is below what is recommended.

But the price for failing to protect hearing is high, and potentially far greater in terms of damaging their playing ability.

 “No musician wants to have to stop making music. We’re here to help make sure that they can continue to do so, safely, and with the same application of their skills and sense that they’re used to.”

Paul Thorpe, Laboratory Manager, dB Hearing

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Protect your hearing while preserving the sound you’re listening to. Contact dB Hearing to find out more.

Workplace noise is not just an issue for heavy industry. You might associate hearing protection with factories and construction sites, but the negative effects of noisy workplaces are more widespread than that.

At dB Hearing we specialise in hearing protection for the workplace with our innovative NoiseBarrier custom earplugs.

Health and Wellbeing at Work

The world often feels like it’s getting louder and the spaces where we work are no exception.

Open plan offices mean that people have far less privacy, and find themselves exposed to constant noise from others around them.

Furthermore, these open plan spaces often have smooth, easy to clean surfaces which add to the harsh acoustics and seem to accentuate their overall noisiness.

This is not just about people feeling bad tempered or mildly irritated. Noise can have pronounced negative effects on people’s health and wellbeing and, consequently on productivity.

Amplifying Stress

People find noise stressful. It can cause physical stress in the body. Prolonged exposure to loud sounds and to some noises will trigger responses in the body such as increased blood pressure and heart rate.

To an extent, this also applies to what we might think of as more routine workplace noises, such as telephones ringing, other people’s conversations and laughter – even the sound of someone eating their lunch.

People work best when they’re bodies, and brains, get into a kind of rhythm. The noise around them can interrupt this rhythm.

Damaging Productivity

Noise in the workplace is a distraction. A British Journal of Psychology study has investigated the effects of background noise, with results showing that it can disrupt performance, affecting memory-based and mental arithmetic tasks.

Open plan offices are very much established, but the risk is that so are the damaging effects of constant background noise.

Moreover, the UK’s current lack of progress in productivity is well-documented.

With the sound of other people’s conversations being especially disruptive, is it time to look at means of protecting people’s wellbeing and trying to improve on productivity?

How to Filter Out Distracting Noise

Clearly, standard foam earplugs are not a practical solution to noise protection in a busy office environment.

If you cut out all the noise around you, you are then working in isolation, at least semi-impervious to communication, some of which might be very important.

There are also health and safety issues around being able to hear instructions or fire alarms.

In other words, there is the risk that in seeking one kind of solution for health and wellbeing you expose yourself to other problems.

Noise at work as many negative effects, from loss of concentration to increased stress, and even how we sit, making us more prone to slouch or hunch.

At the same time, simply plugging yourself into earphones and listening to music is not a guaranteed solution. It too can affect concentration, and listening to music continually at a high volume has implications for hearing damage.

The solution is to reduce overall noise levels without losing any of the essential detail.

This is how NoiseBarrier earplugs work.

Effectively, they reduce the overall volume of the sounds you hear around you without compromising on any of the detail.

Using soft silicon, and custom-fitted to the individual ear canal, NoiseBarrier earplugs are a long-lasting, long-term solution to keeping unwanted noise out.

“Too much noise is a contemporary workplace problem for many. It impacts on health, wellbeing, and on productivity. There is a way to reduce it, with custom earplugs. It’s a way of investing in people at work, because they are any business’s most valuable resource.”

Paul Thorpe, Laboratory Manager, dB Hearing

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Is your workplace too noisy and distracting? Contact dB Hearing to discover more about personal hearing protection.

Swimmers are more prone to ear infections. Swimmer’s ear affects the external ear canal. Its proper name is otitis externa and it can be both painful and debilitating.

Usually it only affects one ear, but this is bad enough. Symptoms include ear pain that can be severe; itchiness in the ear canal; the ear discharging liquid or pus; and a degree of temporary hearing loss.

In other words, not pleasant.

It can get better without treatment, eventually, after a few weeks, but ear drop mediation from a GP is the best way to clear it up, usually within a few days.

However, you can combat swimmer’s ear is to prevent it happening in the first place.

And for many competitive swimmers, alongside those for whom swimming or watersports are a regular, pleasurable and necessary routine, this is the best option.

That’s why, at dB Hearing, we’ve developed our Water Barrier custom earplugs to protect swimmers and anyone else regularly in contact with water.

Lots of people happily go swimming without earplugs. However, there are various times where they are clearly a good idea.

Cold Water Swimming

For triathletes and open water swimmers, cold water is something they’re used to. But swimming in cold water causes most competitive swimmers to feel a degree of discomfort when the cold water first hits the eardrum.

They can end up feeling sickness, dizziness or vertigo, or a combination of these things.

Earplugs are, therefore, a must for anyone going in for cold water swimming.

It’s also the case that if you’re an athlete in training, you can ill afford the time out of the water to treat swimmer’s ear, should you catch an infection in open water.

Protecting Kids from Ear Infections

Children can be prone to swimmer’s ear, and many kids get recurring ear infections of the middle ear.

A preventative approach makes sense, and having earplugs designed specially to fit a child’s ear are a great solution.

The Benefits of a Custom Fit

People’s ear canals are individual, like fingerprints, so it makes sense that to get earplugs that will fit properly, they should be custom made to fit the individual’s specific requirements.

What you get with dB Hearing’s Water Barrier earplugs is a watertight means to protect your inner ear from the risk of water-borne infection or irritation.

Made from soft, medical grade silicone, and to fit a mould of the individual inner ear, these earplugs are floatable, so you won’t lose them in the water.

They work for people of all ages, and whether you’re a swimmer, waterskier, windsurfer, triathlete, or just showering, they offer superb protection and are very comfortable to wear.

With their anti bacterial nano coating they offer increased protection, and they’re made to be durable, making them an essential investment for anyone planning to spend time in the water.

“For regular swimmers, other watersports enthusiasts and kids in the pool or on holiday, swimmer’s ear is something to avoid. Custom earplugs will help ensure your ears stay free from infection, wherever and whenever you’re in the water.”

Paul Thorpe, Laboratory Manager, dB Hearing

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Keep your ears safe from infection in the water. Contact dB Hearing to discover more about Water Barrier custom earplugs.

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 require employers to act if people in the workplace are exposed to noise above certain levels, either on a daily or weekly basis. Hearing protection is vital across a range of sectors.

The Exposure Action Values and Limit Values for noise are:

• a lower exposure action value of 80dB for personal noise exposure daily or weekly, or peak sound pressure of 137dB; and
• an upper exposure action value of 85dB, or peak sound pressure of 137dB.

Even accounting for reductions from hearing protection, there are also Exposure Limit Values, which the workplace should not exceed.

These are:

• daily or weekly exposure of 87dB; and
• peak sound pressure of 140dB.

It is with the hearing protection of employees in mind that at dB Hearing we’ve developed our NoiseBarrier custom earplugs.

What Does Excessive Noise Sound Like?

Anyone regularly exposed to 80dB or more is at risk of developing industrial deafness.

Commonly used tools such as hand drills routinely reach decibel levels of 98dB.

A chainsaw can measure 115dB.

In entire industries, the noise may be at a consistently high dB range, such as in food manufacture, where, according to research, this can be between 85 and 111dB.

Even outside industry, workers can find themselves in environments where dB ranges are high, such as in bars and restaurants.

To put it in context, normal conversation typically measures up to 66dB.

Prevent or Reduce the Risks

Under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, employers must:

prevent or reduce the risks to health and safety from exposure to noise at work.

For industry good practice, HSE recommends looking at ways of eliminating sources of noise.

These include looking at purchasing quieter equipment, isolating or damping vibrating machinery and positioning it away from workers.

Employers can also work at using sound absorbing materials, and limiting people’s access to noisy areas, or limiting the time they spend there.

However, employers should also make personal hearing protection available where noise levels are between the lower and upper action values – 80 to 85dB.

Effective Hearing Protection

Earplugs can be a solution to hearing protection to the workplace, but not all earplugs are equal, and some are less effective than others. In fact, some earplugs can themselves pose a health and safety risk.

Standard, unfiltered earplugs, made of foam, may hamper productivity. This is because they not only block out high noise levels but other noise also.

So, when someone needs to communicate with others, they need to stop what They’re doing and take them out. Their productivity suffers, and They’re then exposed to harmful noise around them.

Foam earplugs are not fitted to a specific ear canal, so their effectiveness can vary from individual to individual.

They may make workers more prone to accidents in the workplace by cutting them off completely from the sound around them, including warnings from others, or even things like traffic noise.

In this situation, you may then find that people in work choose not to wear them, which takes them back to square one and exposure to excessive noise levels.

What is the solution?

Custom, NoiseBarrier earplugs reduce all sound to an approximate speech level through a patented acoustical chamber.

Crucially, they mean the wearer can continue to hear and carry on conversations while wearing them.

They mean that workers wearing them benefit from effective hearing protection without compromising any other safety aspects which would depend on them being able to hear properly.

“Anyone looking to invest long-term in noise protection in the workplace should think about personal hearing protection and the benefits it brings.”

Paul Thorpe, Laboratory Manager, dB Hearing

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Are you doing enough for hearing protection in your workplace? Contact dB Hearing to find out more about NoiseBarrier.