Do you wear musicians ear plugs to protect hearing?

[Shalomjj]

I try the play the accordion softly but notice my ears feel really clogged after. Does anyone wear hearing protection playing or musicians ear plugs? Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Dingo40]

Hi and welcome ??
Short answer:
I don't wear plugs/ ear protection.
I don't try to play particularly softly.
I haven't noticed any side effects
( not like after a day on the firing range using a 105 mm recoilless anti tank rifle?)
See here:

In our case, the main bore was aligned with a 0.5 inch repeating "spotting rifle" mounted above it: the gunner simply plinked a tracer round on the target and immediately followed up with the anti tank (or anti personnel) main missile.
It was noisy and spectacular (and dangerous at both ends)!?
Hell on your ears!

 

[Ffingers]

Just a guess on my part, but it is possible that your problem might be associated with facial tension occurring during your playing - especially clenching of the jaw and teeth.
As I said, just a guess.

 

[Shalomjj]

Hi and welcome ??
Short answer:
I don't wear plugs/ ear protection.
I don't try to play particularly softly.
I haven't noticed any side effects
( not like after a day on the firing range using a 105 mm recoilless anti tank rifle?)
See here:

In our case, the main bore was aligned with a 0.5 inch repeating "spotting rifle" mounted above it: the gunner simply plinked a tracer round on the target and immediately followed up with the anti tank (or anti personnel) main missile.
It was noisy and spectacular!?
Hell on your ears!

Wow! Now that would hurt your ears. Lol

 

[Siegmund]

Does anyone wear hearing protection playing or musicians ear plugs?

Only once. I was sight-reading pep band music at a very noisy basketball game, and we were sitting right under the buzzer on the scoreboard. (And why was I at the game, and why was a travelling opera company pit orchestra filling in for a pep band? We were advertising our upcoming performance of Mozart's Zauberflöte by doing Die Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen as a halftime show. I have a feeling it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.)

I would certainly wear them if I played in a loud band. And in retrospect I can think of one or two times I had a piccolo stuffed up my ear when I wished I had had earplugs in a symphony. But I steer well clear of amps, drum sets, and electric guitars, so don't anticipate it being an issue.

I have never noticed any effect from prolonged accordion playing. I very much had that clogged feeling when I flew small planes even with ear protection.

 

[debra]

I try the play the accordion softly but notice my ears feel really clogged after. Does anyone wear hearing protection playing or musicians ear plugs? Any suggestions? Thanks

When you just play by yourself you should not need ear protection. The accordion (supposedly) is constructed in a way that projects the sound away from the player. The loudest bayans even have the keyboard further from the player and all the sound is projected out to the front of that keyboard. (Some Italian manufacturers have added holes behind the keyboard to project some of the sound towards the player. In terms of ear protection that is a design mistake.)
When you play in a band or orchestra the need for ear protection comes from the other players around you. I do not wear ear protection because I'm the bass player and sit in the back, but people sitting in the front, and most certainly the conductor would all benefit from ear protection.

 

[jozz]

playing acoustically: no
playing on stage: always

I'm wearing either in-ear monitors or plugs depending on the situation. If you do decide to go for plugs, I recommend to wear one step above the cheapest types, eg. simple Alpine plugs with frequency inserts do the trick nicely. Someday they are likely to break, or get lost, so anything more expensive does not make a lot of sense.

 

[Shalomjj]

You’ll all laugh. I have a “new” Hohner Concerto 3. Awesome accordion! Was maybe playing a bit loud in an enclosed space the “Imperial March” from Star Wars. That might be part of the problem. Tone down. Lol Thanks for the input

 

[Ffingers]

Aren't you guys lucky not to need to turn up the volume on your 'ear plugs'.

 

[pentaprism]

I don't wear earplugs when I'm playing accordion, or any musical instrument.

All members of my family do, in particular when I'm playing accordion.

 

[Dingo40]

Wish I'd thought of that!??