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Non-Inner Ear Hearing Protection: Recommendations?


Spoombung

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I wonder if anyone can help?

Regarding hearing protection/ear plugs, etc, I have a problem with ear wax and anything I push in my ear compresses it against my ear drums...with horrible, distressing results: distortion, discomfort among them.

Is there anything I could wear on the outside of my ears...something more sophisticated than industrial ear muffs, obviously? I'd need something that could pick up ambient sound so I could hear the band. Are the any such thing as filtered ear protection that I could wear on my outer ear? Is there anything like closed headphones that have mics or something?

I have Googled like mad, haven't found any solutions so I thought I'd ask you guys.

Any sensible suggestions very welcome.

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Apologies if this is asking the obvious but have you considered getting the wax removed and just going for generic or custom moulded plugs?

I tried to get impressions taken for custom plugs a while ago and the audiologist took one look in my ears and said there was no way he could do it due to the amount of gunk in there.  I tried getting them syringed by the nurse at my local practice, but they will only progress until they can see the eardrum, so no good for getting really clean.

I eventually had microsuction, which is significantly quicker and less unpleasant than syringing.  Average cost seems to be about £30 per ear.  It literally took seconds per ear (I'm trying to not do the sums and work out what I paid per second!).

Interested to hear if you've been down this path or not - I have my custom moulds on order now, but I am slightly concerned about whether any fresh wax will build up and get stuffed down towards the eardrum when I use the plugs.  I'm going to try to guard against this by using olive oil drops once or twice a week.

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1 hour ago, Gottastopbuyinggear said:

Apologies if this is asking the obvious but have you considered getting the wax removed and just going for generic or custom moulded plugs?

I tried to get impressions taken for custom plugs a while ago and the audiologist took one look in my ears and said there was no way he could do it due to the amount of gunk in there.  I tried getting them syringed by the nurse at my local practice, but they will only progress until they can see the eardrum, so no good for getting really clean.

I eventually had microsuction, which is significantly quicker and less unpleasant than syringing.  Average cost seems to be about £30 per ear.  It literally took seconds per ear (I'm trying to not do the sums and work out what I paid per second!).

Interested to hear if you've been down this path or not - I have my custom moulds on order now, but I am slightly concerned about whether any fresh wax will build up and get stuffed down towards the eardrum when I use the plugs.  I'm going to try to guard against this by using olive oil drops once or twice a week.

Unfortunately the wax is back within a couple of weeks, there doesn't seem to anything I can do about apart from have it removed when it's really bad. My dad has the same problem.

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I'm not sure if i understood the OP properly but this is what came to my mind.

Hearing protection, noise reduction:

s-l300.jpg

 

If you want something that also serves as a monitor then you have the Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones that cancel out a huge amount of ambient noise and are wonderfull for bass monitoring with a excelent low-end reproduction:
sc_B000065BPB-01.jpg

 

Don't know which kind the OP was refering to so here are both options.

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Ah, i see now what you're looking for. So i suspect that your band doesn't go full on the mixer then. Well a worst brand of headphones, bluetooth ones so they don't need a cable hanging, will be able to reduce ambient noise but not be good enough to completely cancel the sound.
There are some ear plugs that really bring everything down some DB's without canceling any frequency but i think they're the in-ear type.

Tough one this... i think your best solution is to convince everybody to turn the volume down a little.

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18 hours ago, Ghost_Bass said:

Ah, i see now what you're looking for. So i suspect that your band doesn't go full on the mixer then. Well a worst brand of headphones, bluetooth ones so they don't need a cable hanging, will be able to reduce ambient noise but not be good enough to completely cancel the sound.
There are some ear plugs that really bring everything down some DB's without canceling any frequency but i think they're the in-ear type.

Tough one this... i think your best solution is to convince everybody to turn the volume down a little.

 

Bluetooth for live music won't work. The delay is too large.

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I would not go without ear protection just because it doesn't look good. My ears are too precious to me. If it came to that, industrial ear defenders would do. Like Paul Gilbert. 

Unfortunately I do not know of anything that sits on the outer ear and is discreet enough while still doing a good job. 

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Proguard mould you own ould allow you to make the inner ear part really short, although this would make them less effective it would be better than nothing.  Alternatively speak to one of their affiliated audiologists who should be able to work up a solution (at a price)

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1 hour ago, mcnach said:

 

Bluetooth for live music won't work. The delay is too large.

Not if they're turned off. From what i understood from the OP the band doesn't go all in the PA (he said if he had to get headphones he would need a mic to pick the band's sound) he just wants to reduce the overall noise level. appart from the industrial hearing protection a cheap set of wireless headphones should do a similar thing and wont look so daft.

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11 hours ago, mcnach said:

I would not go without ear protection just because it doesn't look good. My ears are too precious to me. If it came to that, industrial ear defenders would do. Like Paul Gilbert. 

Unfortunately I do not know of anything that sits on the outer ear and is discreet enough while still doing a good job. 

Paul Gilbert's are actually monitors - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Direct-Sound-Extreme-Isolation-Headphones/dp/B0002GZLY2

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1 hour ago, EBS_freak said:

 

Oh, you're right! I always just assumed they were ear defenders, as his hearing is very damaged...

Thanks for that.

I came across this, a list of "don'ts" by the man himself... it sounds like he's been a little crazy than most.

http://www.robchapman.tv/forum/threads/paul-gilberts-advice-for-preserving-your-hearing.18923/

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On 3/22/2018 at 11:11, Nicko said:

Proguard mould you own ould allow you to make the inner ear part really short, although this would make them less effective it would be better than nothing.  Alternatively speak to one of their affiliated audiologists who should be able to work up a solution (at a price)

This maybe the best suggestion. Thank you

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Just thought - you may want to investigate "electronic ear muffs" or "electronic ear defenders". They are usually the realm of machine operators or sports shooters. Can't say how useful they'd be in an onstage situation but probably worth some investigation.

If you do decide to go down the inear route, you may want to investigate the ACS live system. Just make sure the onstage SPL is not too loud for that particular system.

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5 hours ago, Spoombung said:

Thanks for the suggestions. It really doesn't look like there's anything on the market that fits my description in any way. :(

Look at Dr Pro plugs, they sit mostly in the outer ear with just a small insert into the canal. If that part of the ear was full of wax then your hearing would be gone weeks before. I didn’t find them the best and have now gone for mounded ones but in your situation they would be far better than nothing. Give me a shout if you can’t find them and I will dig up a link.

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Not sure what's available across the pond the Peltors makes a compact headset that folds small and is low profile. I've got a set and they will work well enough to protect you when shooting so they should do the job for music. A lot less obtrusive than the full blown set.  (Link shown for illustration)

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PELTOR-SPORT-EAR-PROTECTION/222891816837?hash=item33e5633785:g:j6AAAOSwvvBasV40

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