If you are a musician, then you should know how important it is for you to protect your hearing. After all, your hearing is essential to your job or hobby but if you don’t take the right precautions then you might end up harming yourself and impacting your future performances.

Be informed

The first thing that you need to do is take active steps in learning how loud music could impact your hearing. Loud music essentially damages the tiny hairs in your ear. When cells like this are damaged, they do not regenerate, leading to hearing loss. If you aren’t sure if your level of hearing is worse than it once was, then it’s well worth booking an appointment with an audiologist as they can test your hearing while also recommending further steps you can take to protect your health overall. Sometimes there’s just no reason for hearing loss, but if you make yourself aware and if you make the effort to be informed then you’ll soon find that it’s easier than ever for you to safeguard your health for the future.

Be aware

Another thing that you need to do is be aware of how loud your music is for your ears. There are two very easy indicators here – one of them would be for you to try and talk to someone who is in the same room as you. If you need to raise your voice considerably for them to hear you then your music is too loud. If you are struggling to hear someone who is three feet away from you then this would also indicate that your music is too loud. Of course, sometimes there will be situations when you can’t turn the music down, when you’re playing a live concert at a big venue in Memphis. You do need to know though that one session of loud music probably won’t damage your hearing, but if you do it on a regular basis then it most certainly will. The solution here would be for you to play quietly when you can, while also making a special effort to pay attention to the volume and how loud it is whenever you’re not live on stage.

Stand to the side

If you play live and to an audience, then there’s a high chance that you’ll have a large speaker system. If you stand in front of the system, the sound will be much louder when compared to if you stood to the side. One way for you to try and protect your hearing would be for you to step to the side of your speaker when you are playing at loud volumes. This will stop your ears from being as exposed to the loud music and it will also make you much more aware of how loud you’re playing.

Wear ear protection

Sometimes, you may need to wear hearing protection. This is the case if you are going to be playing at loud volumes for a considerable length of time. Wearing earplugs is a great way for you to help yourself here because it will block the sound from irritating the hairs inside your ears without compromising the sound too much. There are special earplugs out there that are designed for musicians, so you won’t be missing out on sound quality. This is useful if you play a percussion instrument, such as the drums.

Take breaks

As mentioned above, it’s so important that you monitor how loud and how long you’re playing. If you’re in a band then it’s understandable that you need to practice your songs, learn new material and take to the stage from time to time. As a musician, it can be hard to avoid things like this entirely, and for that reason, you must make sure that you take regular breaks. If you don’t then you may find that you end up damaging your hearing and that you also experience hearing loss later. Sometimes it’s possible for you to prevent hearing loss entirely, especially if you limit the amount of noise your ears are exposed to. This is only usually the case if you don’t have an underlying hearing condition, but even if you do, an audiologist will be able to help you to get to the bottom of it while also helping you to understand what other steps you can take.

So as a musician, you can’t stop playing music. You can however make a few adjustments to safeguard your health and your level of hearing. If you want to find out more than contact Hearing & Balance Centers of West Tennessee, by calling our Jackson office at (731) 256-5973 or Memphis at (901) 201-6761.