Tagal na tong topic na to but what I will share is very imptortant from a medical point of view. As musicians,
The sense of hearing is the most important "gift" that we have. According to my ent colleague, hearing loss can be acute or chronic. Acute hearing loss/damage occurs when our ears are exposed to a very loud noise depending on how much our ears can take. This happens during loud concerts, being too close to a jet plane, etc.. It resolves spontaneously.
Chronic/permanent hearing loss develops insidously, meaning, through time (more than 10yrs). We are not able to distinguish it at first until symptoms are significant. All of us will develop hearing loss as we grow old but it depends on how much and how fast. Early symptoms of which is tinnitus. Risk factors of which is age, environment and occupation. Significant noise levels that can cause chronic hearing loss is being exposed to sound of more than 90db for a prolonged period of time. 85 db dw un bagong value. Examples are street noise during heavy traffic, factory noise during peak hrs of production, practicing OUR craft without protection. There is no treatment. Prevention is the cure. One way to know kung ng sstart na to is to have a pure tone audiometry. Available ito sa hospitals, cheaper sa mga maliliit na diagnostic clinics. Costed me 500php but it ranges from 500 to 800php. Kung bata kp, ok ka pa. Im 30 and im planning to play drums for as long as I can . So far good pa daw ang tenga ko, though hindi naman talaga ko tumutugtog sa gig ng madalas bec of my profession. Mas high risk daw yung mga me regular gigs. so yes, i wear earmuffs for this reason during practice, planning to wear one during gigs. I hope me naitulong po ako. Cheers!
