Protecting Your Hearing on the Job: A Non-Negotiable

If you work in live sound, you already know: shows are loud. What you might not fully appreciate is how quickly cumulative exposure adds up — and that the damage is irreversible.

The numbers

OSHA's permissible exposure limit is 90 dBA over an 8-hour workday. For every 5 dB increase, the safe exposure time cuts in half. A typical concert at 100 dBA means your safe exposure is about 2 hours. A loud rock show at 110 dBA? Roughly 30 minutes.

Most AV techs work 10-14 hour days. The math is not in your favor.

What hearing damage actually looks like

It's not going deaf overnight. It's:

• Tinnitus (ringing that never stops)
• Losing the ability to understand speech in noisy environments
• Frequency-specific hearing loss (usually 4kHz first — right where consonants live)
• Recruitment (sounds that used to be comfortable suddenly feel painfully loud)

The cruelest part: you won't notice it happening until it's already significant. By the time you think "I should get my hearing checked," you've already lost frequencies you're not getting back.

Protection options

Foam plugs ($0.50/pair)

Better than nothing. Cut about 30 dB across all frequencies. They make everything sound muffled, which is why most people don't wear them — but they work.

Musician's earplugs ($15-30)

Etymotic or similar flanged plugs with interchangeable filters. Cut 12-25 dB relatively flat across the frequency spectrum. You can still hear the mix; it's just quieter. This is the minimum for anyone mixing live sound.

Custom molded IEMs ($150-400)

Best option for regular use. An audiologist takes impressions of your ear canals, and you get plugs that fit perfectly and attenuate evenly. Some come with flat-response filters; others are tuned for specific use cases.

The rule

Wear hearing protection at every show. Not just the loud ones. Not just when you're side-stage. Every show. Make it as automatic as wearing black.

Get your hearing tested annually. Establish a baseline now so you can track changes over time. Most audiologists will do a basic test for $50-100.

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Your ears are the one piece of gear you can't replace. Protect them like your career depends on it — because it does.