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EarPeace ear plugs enhance any live music or clubbing experience that is high volume. EarPeace is hearing protection without compromise.
How loud is too loud?
The risk of hearing damage is roughly calculated by "how loud" and "how long" you are exposed to a certain level of sound. Experts agree that continuous exposure to noise at or above 85 dB(A) can cause hearing loss. You've been listening to something that's too loud or for too long if the experience leaves your ears ringing, or dulls your hearing sense. As a good rule, if you can't speak to someone who is 2 meters away without shouting, there is a good chance the level of noise is high enough to cause damage. However, you may still be damaging your hearing even without these outward damage warnings. An example is listening to headphones turned up loud enough to overcome street noise. Over time, the cumulative effect of symptomless damage can have a serious long term impact on your ability to hear. When you compound this damage with high volume sound at concerts or in nightclubs, some level of hearing loss is almost unavoidable without hearing protection. The best policy is to turn down the headphones and protect yourself when you are at a live music venue, large concert, nightclub or even the movies. EarPeace is the best hearing protection for real life.
How long can I listen to loud music for?
It depends on the volume. An increase of only a few decibels has a dramatic effect on the danger to hearing. Each increase of 3 Decibels (dB) represents a doubling of noise energy / sound pressure, and halves the safe exposure time time you should listen for. Human hearing does not work linearly in that an increase of 3 dB does not "sound" twice as loud. The PERCEPTION of twice as loud corresponds to considerably more than twice the total acoustic power. Typically literature states that 10 dB increase of sound level is heard as "twice as loud". While it may not be exactly 10 dB, that's a reasonable figure.
As an example, being on a dance floor for one hour at 100 dB(A) delivers the same amount of noise energy to the ear (and therefore potential damage) as being on a slightly less noisy dance floor at 97 dB(A) for two hours. Simply put, a small reduction in volume makes a big difference to the length of time you can safely listen without hearing protection. This is why EarPeace is so useful and can improve experience. Many live music venues and nightclubs are consistently above 100 dB. Adding EarPeace can extend the length of your experience safely - even if you wear it for short periods of time to rest your ears. They are comfortable, you can still hear, other's won't notice, and you they are easy to carry. Bottom line, if loud music ever causes you pain or discomfort, you should protect yourself and leave / turn it down immediately.
What is noise induced hearing loss?
Every day, we experience sound in our environment, such as the sounds from television and radio, household appliances, and traffic. Normally, we hear these sounds at safe levels that do not affect our hearing. However, when we are exposed to harmful noise—sounds that are too loud or loud sounds that last a long time—sensitive structures in our inner ear can be damaged, causing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). These sensitive structures, called hair cells, are small sensory cells that convert sound energy into electrical signals that travel to the brain. Once damaged, our hair cells cannot grow back.1
There are extensive resources available to better understand hearing loss, how to protect yourself and where to turn if you believe your hearing is damaged:
1. The Better Hearing Institute has extensive resources on hearing loss, causes and resources. It also has a Hearing Loss Simulator that has different situations and what it 'sounds like' to people with hearing loss.
2. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has extensive information about workplace regulations for noise levels and sponsors the Dangerous Decibels Project. The project is a public health campaign to reduce Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) and tinnitus (ringing in the ear) by changing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.
3. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders has one of the largest repositories of clinical information on hearing health and sponsors Wise Ears®. Since 1999, WISE EARS!® has been a popular national public education campaign to prevent NIHL.
4. The American Speech Language Hearing Association helps people with speech, language, and hearing disorders receive services to help them communicate effectively. They also have extremely clear descriptions of noise and hearing loss.
| Number of Americans Living with Hearing Loss | |||||
|
Year | (mil) | |||
| 1989 | 24.7 | ||||
| 1994 | 26.1 | ||||
| 2000 | 28.6 | ||||
| 2004 | 31.5 | ||||
| 2010 | 33.4 | ||||
| 2015 | 35.8 | ||||
| 2020 | 38.4 | ||||
| 2025 | 41 | ||||
| 2030 | 43.7 | ||||
| 2035 | 46.4 | ||||
| 2040 | 48.8 | ||||
| 2045 | 50.9 | ||||
| 2050 | 52.9 | ||||
“As a concert Lighting Director, I've been using EarPeace for the past five weeks of Jay-Z's current "Blueprint 3" tour and have been very impressed with both the performance and ease of use. They've been working really well for both myself and special guests that join us front of house. The 10db filtering gives a nice level of protection without feeling like you're missing the live sound experience of the show. Well done guys!”
- Patrick Dierson
- Patrick Dierson
