Guide to Orchestra Headphones

6
Ultimate Guide to Orchestra Headphones
Protect yourself from hearing loss
Since I do a lot of music transcription work, I have
suffered minor hearing loss. I cannot hear anything
much above 15k. You can test your frequency range
on this website: http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencycheckhigh.php
to see where your
hearing stops. Make sure to turn the speakers way
down because these tones are really annoying and
can be damaging to the ears!!
I have also suffered tinnitus, a ringing in the ears.
In my case, my ENT doctor diagnosed the cause
as continual jaw clenching, not over-exposure to
music.
The largest burden of noise-induced hearing loss is
through occupational exposures, and since this can
be the case for me, sometimes listening to music
8+ hours a day for transcription, I am more at risk.
“Music-induced hearing loss is still a controversial
topic for hearing researchers. While some populational
studies have shown that the risk for hearing
loss increases as music exposure increases, other
studies found little to no correlation between the
two. Experts at the 2006 “Noise-Induced Hearing
Loss in Children at Work and Play” Conference
agreed that further research into this field was
still required before making a broad generalization
about music-induced hearing loss.” [Wikipedia:
Noise-induced hearing loss.]
going up. They seem to keep making it louder and
louder. During one trip to the movies I measured
the sound to go up to 115 decibels. However, I was
using an app on my iPhone, so I can’t be sure how
accurate those readings are.
Use this guide to help determine your exposure
and protect your hearing when listening to your
music on headphones. You will also need an Sound
Pressure Level (SPL) meter to help determine the
decibels that you are listening.
Click here & use the chart in this informational
brochure to determine the levels of exposure you
can withstand.
According to this, if you listen to the music at high
volumes, you may reach full exposure after only 15-
60 minutes, depending upon how loud the music is.
Recent research suggests that despite concerns
about the proliferation of personal music players,
in fact discos, concerts and live music events may
be more hazardous to youth’s hearing.
I don’t know if this is true, but in the movie theaters
that I attend, the music loudness seems to keep