When i was a Junior in high school, i spent a good majority of the winter and spring touring the east coast with a group of 20 other kids my age, playing classic rock concerts everywhere we went. When i first got on stage, with amplifiers stacked behind me turned up to the highest volume and a drum set with microphones in or around every drum or cymbal, the loudness or intensity of the sound was a little overwhelming. I mostly sang when i was on stage, and it can be difficult to hear yourself when so much other noise is around you. The first time i performed on stage, i was blown away by the other instruments and i couldn’t stay in the right key or sing the right pitch. My ears became desensitized over time, and i adapted to be able to control my voice despite the roaring guitars and ground-shaking drums
In February of 2009, we went on stage with Napolean Murphy Brock, whom most of you are probably unfamiliar with. He played jazz flute and the saxophone for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, a progressive rock band. He was an experienced musician, and i sought to learn from him while performing together. At the first show we played together, i noticed he was wearing earplugs, and asked how he could handle dulling the band’s sound so much to his own ears while still putting on a good show. He told me if i didn’t where ear plugs, i would be deaf in 20 years of putting on loud concerts. Phil collins is a famous musician who thrived in the 70s and 80s, and put on shows until he was almost 60-years-old. In 2011, he announced he would never again be performing on stage, because he could go completely deaf if he suffers any more hearing damage.
I spoke to my father, who was a music guru as a young adult, and he told me about how he has a constant ringing in his left ear that never goes away. He went to a performance by The Who in 1979, who were widely renowned for how loud their shows were, and was standing in the second row, on the far left side, directly next to a giant speaker. He said the ringing started after that show, and he has had hearing problems ever since. I first noticed my father’s hearing impairment when i was boiling water in a tea kettle, and walked outside onto my deck to shovel snow. I heard the tea kettle whistle, and ignored it because i figured my father would remove it from the hot stove for me. After a couple minutes, the whistling did not end, and i walked inside to see my dad watching sports in the same room as the stove. I asked him if he could hear ‘that’, and he replied, ‘hear what?’ The pitch at which the tea kettle whistled was the same as the ringing in his ear that does not go away. I was astounded that he could not hear the piercing sound, and promised myself i would never let my hearing get that bad.
I began to wear earplug whenever i performed, and despite not getting the full effect of hearing each song we played, it did not impair my ability to sing, and more importantly did not damage my hearing. In class we discussed the poor hearing of our generation, mainly attributed to the widespread use of ear buds, but loud shows can have the same detrimental effect on one’s hearing. Whether you are on stage or in the crowd watching, it is very important to wear earplugs during the louder performances, because it reduces the impact of soundwaves entering the ear and prevents damage to the Stereocilia within the inner ear which are very precious. Stereocilia cannot be regenerated, and excessively loud noises will destroy them.
Take good care of your ears, because your hearing becomes worse each and every time your stereocilia are damaged or destroyed. Neil young, Pete Townshend of The Who, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck of The Rolling Stones, all have permanent damage to their hearing, and will tell you time and time again that they wish they had worn earplugs on stage.