Conscious about hearing after nightclub exposure

[Virgin101]

Has anyone ever heard Chase, or the lads mention anything about this? I've had tinnitus in my left ear for over a year now, so it's something that I'm conscious of. I was considering maybe wearing an ear plug in my left ear when in clubs, and I could use the other ear to interact.

The music in the nightclub that I went to recently was just about the loudest music I've ever encountered in a nightclub. All of the floor staff have ear plugs in, but I felt sorry for the bar staff as they need to hear orders. There were a few areas around the club that were a tiny bit quieter, but they were the smoking areas! I was speaking to a girl about this the next day (who'd been there) and all she'd to say was "oh, was it loud? I can't remember I was so drunk!" Interesting, right?

Anyway, I happen to know a few other venues in my city that don't play the music so loud, so I won't be going to that place again! It's kind of sad to think these folks think they're letting their hair down by being in a nightclub, but all they're really doing is:

• polluting their liver
  polluting their lungs
  ruining their hearing for decades down the road

Needless to say, it made interactions a tad bit more difficult. There's always the "what?", and by the point you hear what she said all you're thinking is "thank God, I heard it this time" - so your mind is in the wrong place. Eventually I decided to cut my loses & leave, but the line for the cloak room was right beside a speaker. Horrible! Thankfully the ringing in my ear wasn't any louder next day.

 

[trashKENNUT]

Virgin101,

1)Never go to clubs with horrible speakers that blast their music.
2)Never go near the speaker + see point 1

I had tinnitus for like a month or two. The most shittiest part of my life, but that's life.

Zac

 

[ThePhoenix]

I hear ya! [ha. ha.]

I do Caribbean events (sometimes part of the event and other times just there) and for the love of God, I would probably be as deaf as a post if I hadn't rather early on invested in a pair of musicians' earplugs. It's been a while but I think they cost me about $200. Audiologist took custom moulds and they came back in like a week or two. There's a little button that fits into the plug which contains the actual filter. These are interchangeable. The ones I have cut 25dB but you can also get -15dB or -9dB.

They work quite well. I can be listening to my stereo, put them in, then jack the stereo up 25dB and it sounds pretty good and about the same level. There is of course some difference in the sound quality but it certainly isn't bad - it's clearer than just ordinary earplugs. A hell of a lot better than deafening music.

With them in, the music at these events is actually quite enjoyable. And even when people blast whistles (ya it happens at some of them), you're good.

I have no idea how the hell people actually enjoy music at the levels I find pretty much all of these clubs and events play it at. I've never been drunk so I have no 1st hand appreciation of what it does to one's sense of sound, but it must be a doozey!!! LOL.

One problem that I find comes up is that people can't hear you when you've got them in, even though you can hear them just fine.

I know this sounds backwards, but it's because of the anatomy of the ear and brain. The ears have a muscle that can deaden vibrations to the eardrum to some extent. When you're exposed to loud sound, this kicks in. (It's actually part of the reason your ears ring after exposure - the muscle has not relaxed yet so sounds become deadened and the hairs that pick up sound end up self-exciting due to under-stimulation.)

The problem is, if you have plugs in, that mechanism doesn't kick in for you, and your brain fails to appreciate how fucking loud the environment is, so you tend to speak at a usual volume, which is going to get nowhere. I will repeatedly have people not hear me, and have to consciously shout. That is of course pretty bad for game, and I haven't fully solved that problem. I almost thought to buy a lower cut as a compromise, but I think that's probably not a good idea. Just have to make more of a point to shout.

It can sometimes be a little bit hard to hear people at -25dB if they're not speaking really loud or if you're not near them. But generally in this environment they'll be shouting anyway so I usually won't have any more trouble hearing people than anyone else in the place would.

Another fairly minor issue is that sometimes if you're moving from place to place within the venue, the levels can be a lot different so in some parts you might be a bit strained to hear, but you can always take them out. Better than going deaf.

I have had dates with girls I (kinda sorta) talked to while I had these in. I'm actually not big on night game at all (more a day game guy), but sometimes I get invited to events and it's hard to resist because I'm into a minority (black girls) that are a lot more concentrated in these events.

At first I was kind of self-conscious of wearing these things - they're not exactly concealed, - but I figured I'd rather that than go deaf. I've seen a few other patrons with earplugs as well! LOL.

I actually got flak once from a friend of a girl I went with. It was a daytime event out on the street. This girl is like, "take out those damn things, I know you like the music, I know you must go to reggae jams and shit." She was fuckin' drunk anyway.

 

[Virgin101]

1)Never go to clubs with horrible speakers that blast their music.
2)Never go near the speaker + see point 1

Was that last bit really necessary? I mean you're basically going around in a circle!

What if there's a hot girl near the horrible speaker?

 

[Virgin101]

Thanks Phoenix,

I hear ya! [ha. ha.]

I do Caribbean events (sometimes part of the event and other times just there) and for the love of God, I would probably be as deaf as a post if I hadn't rather early on invested in a pair of musicians' earplugs. It's been a while but I think they cost me about $200. Audiologist took custom moulds and they came back in like a week or two. There's a little button that fits into the plug which contains the actual filter. These are interchangeable. The ones I have cut 25dB but you can also get -15dB or -9dB.

They work quite well. I can be listening to my stereo, put them in, then jack the stereo up 25dB and it sounds pretty good and about the same level. There is of course some difference in the sound quality but it certainly isn't bad - it's clearer than just ordinary earplugs. A hell of a lot better than deafening music.

With them in, the music at these events is actually quite enjoyable. And even when people blast whistles (ya it happens at some of them), you're good.

I have no idea how the hell people actually enjoy music at the levels I find pretty much all of these clubs and events play it at. I've never been drunk so I have no 1st hand appreciation of what it does to one's sense of sound, but it must be a doozey!!! LOL.

One problem that I find comes up is that people can't hear you when you've got them in, even though you can hear them just fine.

I know this sounds backwards, but it's because of the anatomy of the ear and brain. The ears have a muscle that can deaden vibrations to the eardrum to some extent. When you're exposed to loud sound, this kicks in. (It's actually part of the reason your ears ring after exposure - the muscle has not relaxed yet so sounds become deadened and the hairs that pick up sound end up self-exciting due to under-stimulation.)

The problem is, if you have plugs in, that mechanism doesn't kick in for you, and your brain fails to appreciate how fucking loud the environment is, so you tend to speak at a usual volume, which is going to get nowhere. I will repeatedly have people not hear me, and have to consciously shout. That is of course pretty bad for game, and I haven't fully solved that problem. I almost thought to buy a lower cut as a compromise, but I think that's probably not a good idea. Just have to make more of a point to shout.

It can sometimes be a little bit hard to hear people at -25dB if they're not speaking really loud or if you're not near them. But generally in this environment they'll be shouting anyway so I usually won't have any more trouble hearing people than anyone else in the place would.

Another fairly minor issue is that sometimes if you're moving from place to place within the venue, the levels can be a lot different so in some parts you might be a bit strained to hear, but you can always take them out. Better than going deaf.

I have had dates with girls I (kinda sorta) talked to while I had these in. I'm actually not big on night game at all (more a day game guy), but sometimes I get invited to events and it's hard to resist because I'm into a minority (black girls) that are a lot more concentrated in these events.

At first I was kind of self-conscious of wearing these things - they're not exactly concealed, - but I figured I'd rather that than go deaf. I've seen a few other patrons with earplugs as well! LOL.

There are ear plugs on market that aren't so noticeable. So surely it must be possible for one to buy "musicians' custom made earplugs" that aren't so visable. That's the next thing to do, right? That's probably what I should be looking into.

At least with the ear plugs you describe, you can hear them - which must mean that your plugs essentially block out the noise you don't want, and leaves in what you want! And I presume that's what certain ear plugs on the market claim to do. On the other hand, if the girls can't hear you, then you might feel strange shouting so loud at them... in spite of the fact that you actually need to! Or you could even shout too loud.

 

[trashKENNUT]

V101,

1
Was that last bit really necessary? I mean you're basically going around in a circle!

What if there's a hot girl near the horrible speaker?

YES. LOLX

IF there's a hot girl near a speaker, and you want to be as deaf as her, it will be a good couple. Otherwise, if she is not as static as the speaker, just wait for her to move.

If she doesn't, assume she's the new speaker.

Zac

 

[ThePhoenix]

There are ear plugs on market that aren't so noticeable. So surely it must be possible for one to buy "musicians' custom made earplugs" that aren't so visable. That's the next thing to do, right? That's probably what I should be looking into.

I seem to remember looking for ones that were more concealed but not having that much luck. Unlike normal ear plugs they contain some kind of acoustic filter (in a little button), so maybe they can't be made quite as small. But I'd be interested to hear if you can find well-concealed ones.

At least with the ear plugs you describe, you can hear them - which must mean that your plugs essentially block out the noise you don't want, and leaves in what you want! And I presume that's what certain ear plugs on the market claim to do.

It's kind of the other way around... the musicians' plugs aren't selective about the sounds, but instead they give a (not perfectly, but more) uniform reduction across the whole frequency spectrum.

By contrast, with regular ear plugs, let's say they want to cut everything by at least 25dB - that means they'll use a certain material and that material might, say, cut higher frequencies a lot more, like say 30dB or 40dB. So now you're cutting different frequencies by different amounts and so it sounds muddy. Whereas the musicians' plugs have a filter designed to let through, say, those higher frequencies so that they're also only cut by the same 25dB.

So, the musicians' plugs are like turning the volume down, whereas regular plugs are like listening through a telephone. Not exactly but that's sort of the idea. Since the frequency response is flatter (more accurate), you can hear detail in the music somewhat better, and also hear people somewhat better, as compared with regular ear plugs. But it cuts down everything the same regardless of whether it's actually a wanted sound or not - just to be clear they're not that smart, lol. You won't hear anything better than you would without any ear plugs; you just avoid ear damage.

On the other hand, if the girls can't hear you, then you might feel strange shouting so loud at them... in spite of the fact that you actually need to!

Yes! Not realizing you need to shout is the main drawback. I think over time you might be able to train yourself to do it without thinking or without it feeling strange, but I actually haven't gamed at these events enough to have gotten fully used to it.

Or you could even shout too loud.

Don't think I had that happen myself but it's possible. Again, could take some training/practice.

btw in case you decide to get such ear plugs, I found that over time the formed part can get damaged from fingernails when removing them. I found it's better to remove them by squeezing below the ear, which makes them kind of pop out on their own, rather than trying to pull them out.

IF there's a hot girl near a speaker, and you want to be as deaf as her, it will be a good couple. Otherwise, if she is not as static as the speaker, just wait for her to move.

If she doesn't, assume she's the new speaker.

LOL

 

[Virgin101]

V101,

1
Was that last bit really necessary? I mean you're basically going around in a circle!

What if there's a hot girl near the horrible speaker?

YES. LOLX

IF there's a hot girl near a speaker, and you want to be as deaf as her, it will be a good couple. Otherwise, if she is not as static as the speaker, just wait for her to move.

If she doesn't, assume she's the new speaker.

Zac

Shit test failed

 

[Virgin101]

I had tinnitus for like a month or two. The most shittiest part of my life, but that's life.

Zac

If you had it for another few months, you'd begin to not mind it!

 

[trashKENNUT]

Virgin101,

Shit test failed

Not always a shit test.

I don't know what's up with guys thinking that everything is a finale, until i realize i am doing it. Thanks for the friendly reminder. Damn it. tsk.

Zac