# Custom Earplug Filters



## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

I'm going to be getting molds done for some custom earplugs, but would like to get your opinion on the types of filters you guys would get. My choices are 9, 15 and 25db. I think 25db might be a bit much, so I'm more curious about the difference between 9 and 15db. What are your thoughts? Thanks!


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Just a thought, and not what you asked for, but I'm going one step further and getting custom molded IEMs. They'll be done next week.

They will not only protect my hearing, but will also prevent me from doing what most people do when they wear plugs on stage (play way to F'ing loud).

It's pretty predictable. Every guy I've played with who used them has been the loudest guy on stage. Never fails.


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

HAHA, it's not me that I'm worried about, it's my drummer. He's very heavy handed. 

This isn't something that I'm proud of but I've never been a huge fan of ear plugs and lately I've noticed that certain frequencies bother me - more so at concerts rather than being on stage. I'm getting them to more or less preserve the hearing that I have left.


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## R.S.Fraser Sr. (Aug 15, 2009)

Hello TWRC 
When it comes to attenuation in earplugs, and what amount to choose, it helps to think it terms of what you are being exposed to. 
For example – have you measured the spl at your position on stage with your usual setup, at everyone's usual playing level? An ipod or android app will do just fine to get an idea.

Then - if you run the risk of being regularly exposed to let’s say 115 dB spl, the 25 dB set of plugs will take you down to 90. 
That is still plenty loud enough to be able to hear what is going on, on stage.

If you choose 15 dB, on the other hand you are in a dangerous zone of 100 dB spl.

9 dB of attenuation when faced with my example of 115 dB spl, is almost useless from a safety point of view.

bob


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

That's a great answer and a good way of looking at what might be needed depending on the situation, informative and to the point. Thanks Bob.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Glad to hear you guys are interested in protecting your valuable hearing.:sSig_goodjob2:


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

That's actually a great idea that I never thought of. Luckily I have rehearsals tomorrow and I can test this and go from there. Your logic makes sense though and I think I might end up getting 2 sets of filters; the 15 and 25db.



R.S.Fraser Sr. said:


> Hello TWRC
> When it comes to attenuation in earplugs, and what amount to choose, it helps to think it terms of what you are being exposed to.
> For example – have you measured the spl at your position on stage with your usual setup, at everyone's usual playing level? An ipod or android app will do just fine to get an idea.
> 
> ...


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

I tried the Etymotic ear plugs. I found that they attenuated frequencies that the guitar hangs disproportionate to low frequencies where the bass and drums hang. In my ears the mix sounded like mud with the plugs (emphasized low frequencies), and they made me want to turn my amp up loader so I could still hear myself (attenuated high frequencies). Etymotic published a graph of attenuation level by frequency and my experience is predictably in line with the graph.

I then started looking for a solution that electronically captures the ambient sound, attenuates it, then plays it through an ear bud or over ear setup... that led me to the electronic musicians ear plugs by Etymotic. Pricey at $400 but I'd pay that to save my hearing.

So I inquired with Etymotic to see if their electronic musicians ear plugs had a flat response, they replied two weeks later saying they are checking into it, now months have passed with no response.

So, I'm not impressed with Etymotic and still haven't found a solution.

I've used IEM's and that is not always a practical solution.


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## JCM50 (Oct 5, 2011)

TWRC said:


> I'm going to be getting molds done for some custom earplugs, but would like to get your opinion on the types of filters you guys would get. My choices are 9, 15 and 25db. I think 25db might be a bit much, so I'm more curious about the difference between 9 and 15db. What are your thoughts? Thanks!


I originally got the 25dbs and that was too much. I ended settling on 15db on the drummer side and 9db on my amp's side.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

I wear mine more for attending events than performing. (Our drummer has a nice light touch and we keep the stage/rehearsal volume way down.) For my purposes, 9 dB is plenty because I usually just need to "take the edge off" as I have a form of tinnitus that only shows up when my ears get fatigued, and 9 dB reduces the sound energy enough to avoid fatigue.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

I have constant ringing in my left ear from too many years of cranked Marshall stacks and SVTs. Listen to the old guy. Wear ear protection.


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

*Trick that works*

Here here is an important trick that works well for people who play with earplugs.

Put your earplugs in your ears as you enter the rehearsal room before any music is being played. When you do this you will be acclimatized to the general increase volume as the drummer warms up the bass player warms up and the guitarists and singer warm-up.

If you put earplugs in right before you play your first song, the drastic drop in volume will be very odd and will be disagreeable. Let me know how this works. 

As a reference I use the Etymotic non-custom earplugs with -12 db and I find that they work very well


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

TWRC said:


> I'm going to be getting molds done for some custom earplugs, but would like to get your opinion on the types of filters you guys would get. My choices are 9, 15 and 25db. I think 25db might be a bit much, so I'm more curious about the difference between 9 and 15db. What are your thoughts? Thanks!


get the 9

I had both. the 9s are much better. 15s were a bit too quiet for our mix.

we measured the db levels at our last jam and we peaked at 110db

we sat around 100-105 for most of the evening.

as mentioned above, put them in before you start playing anything. I like to do it when I set up

edit: where are you getting them? I got mine done at costco. took about a week and was about $180?? IIRC


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

I think what I might do is get both 9 and 15db. The other person in my band has both and mostly uses the 9db. I'd like to have a bit more protection, so I think I'll go with both. 

I have rehearsal tonight and will clock our volume. My appointment is tomorrow at Costco, so that's great timing!



blam said:


> get the 9
> 
> I had both. the 9s are much better. 15s were a bit too quiet for our mix.
> 
> ...


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

did your band mate get the spare flters from costco?

they wouldn't sell me a spare set


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

I'm not sure. I can ask.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

So, I have severe tinnitus in both ears. I have the molded plugs from "Hear at Last" which are basically Etymotic. I have both 9 and 15 db attenators and find that I use 9's the most because as Brian said above, the 15's are a bit too quiet. Another thing to keep in mind that's already been mentioned is that molded plugs are just as useful for concert going as they are for personal performance and this adds to the benefit of having a choice in attenuators.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

agreed with the concerts thing.

-9 db is great for louder concerts


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

At concerts you have no control over volume, other than to move away from the source and with reserved seating that's not really an option. In that situation, I bring custom molded plugs.

But for your own performances, does nobody else think earplugs are a band aid? What about a little root cause analysis and countermeasure?

If it's too loud, instead of plugging your ears, why not reduce the volume? That means more than just agreeing among your band mates to dial it back. It may mean smaller amps, side washing, electronic drums or at least a plexi shield, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm surprised so few people are interested in this approach.


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

As a general rule, we all turn down to match our drummer at rehearsals. Live, it's a different story - we always keep the stage volume as low as possible and let the soundguy work their magic. 

I don't think that using earplugs is necessarily a band aid solution; I just don't want to do any more damage to my ears and would rather take that approach than no earplugs at all.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

TWRC said:


> As a general rule, we all turn down to match our drummer at rehearsals. Live, it's a different story - we always keep the stage volume as low as possible and let the soundguy work their magic.
> 
> I don't think that using earplugs is necessarily a band aid solution; I just don't want to do any more damage to my ears and would rather take that approach than no earplugs at all.


I understand and respect that choice. I just think reducing the stage level to match an instrument that is already too loud and then protecting your ears from the resulting noise levels is missing a key point.

If you still need protection, is it not reasonable to conclude that something is too loud?


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

If we didn't turn it down for the cops, what chance do you have?


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

We're definitely loud, there's no doubt in that. It's just the nature of our bands' "sound".

For me, getting earplugs hasn't been due to our band setting, it's more about my own ears. As I get older, I've just noticed that my ears have been getting fatigued a lot easier. I'm also finding that I have to turn a lot of things down where I never had to before (which isn't a bad thing). Maybe I've become more sensitive to volume, but I figure getting custom earplugs will give me a bit more control over situations where I don't have control over like say concerts or loud drummers that lack a volume knob.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

TWRC said:


> We're definitely loud, there's no doubt in that. It's just the nature of our bands' "sound".
> 
> For me, getting earplugs hasn't been due to our band setting, it's more about my own ears. As I get older, I've just noticed that my ears have been getting fatigued a lot easier. I'm also finding that I have to turn a lot of things down where I never had to before (which isn't a bad thing). Maybe I've become more sensitive to volume, but I figure getting custom earplugs will give me a bit more control over situations where I don't have control over like say concerts or loud drummers that lack a volume knob.


Fair enough and at the end of the day, a little more realistic than my approach.

Still, I can't help but feel like this is similar to the dogma that many religious people cling to.

If we start our countermeasure from the perspective that all bands are loud by nature, there's little hope of a truly effective countermeasure.

Plugs really are a band aid, but for the majority of groups, probably the easiest way to prevent yourself from going deaf(er).

I'm going to keep trying to get the stage volume down to a controllable level. For me, that includes the drummer and bassist.


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

I totally get what you're saying and don't disagree with you at all.

IEM's for me would definitely help, but in this case molded earplugs will kill two birds with one stone for me: protecting me in a performance setting and also in a live non-performance setting.

When I think of how loud I used to play when I was younger, it makes me cringe.


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## Ringwraith (Nov 17, 2007)

I got the -15db filters when I originally had them 
done & they work really well but I plan on getting
the -9db ones as I think they'll be a bit better for my needs.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is if you sing, they are a bit annoying.
Like singing with a barrel over your head! lol But that would be the case with
any plugs other than IEMs unfortunately.

Also, I've noticed that the frequency response has changed drastically over 
the last year or so making them sound like regular foam earplugs. After calling
my ear Dr. they told me that the filters only have a life of about 3-4 years!!
So that's something to keep in mind. I was quoted about $60 each for replacement filters!
If anyone has a line on a better price for the filters let me know.

Cheers
Sean


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Milkman said:


> I understand and respect that choice. I just think reducing the stage level to match an instrument that is already too loud and then protecting your ears from the resulting noise levels is missing a key point.
> 
> If you still need protection, is it not_* reasonable*_ to conclude that something is too loud?


Reasonable. That is often not a commodity that is readily found.


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