Do any of you ever practice this way?

[drgrant]

Same as Fooped, I've been playing the drums for almost 40 years, ever since I was three.
I never used hearing protection.
When I last had my hearing tested, there was only a very slight loss.
The biggest problem I've had was getting Raynauds (loss of circulation in the fingers) after being on the road with a band all summer all over the country.
some people have a higher propensity to hearing damage than others.

The problem is that you will never know what your tolerance
level is until you've already exposed yourself to potentially damaging
noise, and even then, it's imperfect. (tolerance may vary according to
sound frequencies, etc. ) As far as I know, there is no way for an audiologist
to gauge what an individual's potential is for hearing loss via loud
noises. It is like trying to test whether or not something is fire retardant
by lighting it on fire... yeah, if it burns you know it's not... but maybe you
didn't want that thing to catch on fire!

I know what you are talking about though.... You hear stories of vets who
used to do mortars and artillery that have little loss and then there are guys
with SEVERE loss. Some of it makes little sense. I think the DOD is
doing research now to try to come up with some kind of a drug that can
help prevent hearing loss; eg, for troops to use before they go into a
combat area, etc.

-Mike

 

[boomerang]

Loud music is nothing like a gunshot.
Later, when I had special earplugs made up for me, the hearing technician gave me earplugs that only cut the sound level slightly. They told me that as a musician, I needed a more flat frequency response from the plugs, so they gave me the minimal reduction membranes on them.
I usually double plug with those, but a gunshot WILL be painful with just the plugs.

 

[drgrant]

Loud music is nothing like a gunshot.

Agreed, but saying that it doesn't/cannot cause hearing damage
would be a pretty tough sell. Granted, I doubt that in most cases
it causes damage at nearly the same rate as exposure to gunfire. With
gunfire there is often -pain- and with loud music often times it is just
annoying or you end up with a headache, as opposed to full blown 3 day
bells ringing episode with gunfire. Impulse is worse than a constant
drone of something else, but both can damage your hearing if done to
excess.

-Mike

 

[n1zfg]

Between this thread and my wife talking about new hearing aids (severe loss due to a complication when she was born) I'm reminded about a piece of junk email I received from the NRA last month, offering some hearing aid discount program at:
http://www.nrahearingbenefits.com/

 

[M1911]

Loud music can also create hearing loss: http://www.abelard.org/hear/hear.htm#bands