Have any of you guys experienced any noticeable hearing loss as a result of drumming?

I started wearing earplugs about 2 years ago when I was playing on my drum set, but there were always those instances when I'd be playing with my band at a talent show or something and I'd have to leave them out so I could hear the guitars/vocals.
Also, I made the mistake of not wearing earplugs last year when I was on snare, and this year I was on quads and the line (not very big) barely had any heavy hitters so I never really thought about it. I don't think I have a serious hearing problem but occasionally it sounds like people are mumbling and I always have to turn my ear towards them to understand. Nowadays, of course, I don't usually like to play without any kind of hearing protection for my own sake.

I was just curious if anyone else has been in this position or currently is.

Yeah i have the same problem. We have a very big drumline and we usually practice in our band room, which is almost too small for us, and when we play together it gets very loud. I have been on this line for 2 years and i have already noticed hearing loss, when someone talks i usually always say "What?"............. I think its because of our 7 cymbals....

I have expereinced hearing loss due to loud music and drumming. When I first started marching it was not even a consideration to wear earplugs. When I stopped marching we were told to wear earplugs. The first reason was for our hearing and the next was the ear tampons allow you to hear more clearly the whole line there by making cleaner.
Or thats what they told us.

Yes. Most people will wear ear plugs when they are playing. Some people have even gone as far as not playing on the drum unless they have to. Some schools with big lines require you to have them.
On the other hand though with ear plugs in you cant hear your instructor as much when he is talking to you. It would also be hard to hear when other insturments are close to you and might throw off your marching.

Yeah.... I am playing tenors this year and my left ear is towards the snare and I can tell its going bad. It hurts around highpitched noises and sometimes if Im playing a snare in a practice room or something my ear starts getting a crackling noise. I wear earplugs whenever i can remember now.

im in a fairly big line..but i havent noticed any hearing loss ...yet. Ive played in the line for 3 yrs...but for one of those i was in pit. This past year one of our tenors was hard hearing from somthin that happened a long time ago. (hearing aid and all)...so that made it kinda weird for him. Ive thought of investing in earplugs tho...since this coming year ill probly be next to the snares.

Well...i never really had problems with bad hearing, considering whenever i composed music i used studio headphones with the treble high and the bass near the mid-point. Our instructor told us to use earplugs so we can generate sound better. It worked a lot better with tenors cause you couldn't hear the after effect once you hit the head of the drum.

Yeah it’s important that you wear ear plugs. The threshold of pain for human hearing is 130 decibels. Which is 10 times louder then a plane taking off. Studies have shown that a band with eighty to one hundred members can produce sound levels of 80 to 90 dB when playing at the lowest dynamics, and loudness of up to 115 dB at the loudest dynamic.
Exposure to sounds higher then 120dB for a prolonged period of time can lead to hearing loss. I don’t have the exact measurements but I have a hunch that a snare line of 5 or 6 playing at 12 inches will create somewhere between 110 and 125 dB.
The best way to solve this is ear plugs. Custom fit ear plugs will do the most for you in filtering noise and still allowing you to hear people speaking.

you have the right idea, but your numbers are a bit off...

threshold of pain is around 130-135 dB SPL, as you said. A jet taking off is well ABOVE the threshold of pain -- it's about 20-30 dB SPL higher, which translates to a perceived loudness 4-8 times greater than something right at the threshold of pain.

A rock snare drum at the mic (about 6" away) can hit peaks of up to 150 dB dB SPL, while a .45 Colt pistol at 25 feet hits around 140 dB SPL. An everage rock band, 10 feet away in a club, is about 110 dB SPL.

Just some "reference" points. Remember that a 10 dB SPL increase equals a doubling in perceived loudness. So a Colt is 4 times "louder" than a rock band, and a close-mic'ed snare is 2 times "louder" than the Colt. The jet engine is another 2 times "louder".


The short version -- wear earplugs. Anytime you're playing a marching drum, or playing rock/loud drumset.


B

The threshold of pain really doesn't matter...as hearing damage occurs at a much lower level, about 85 decibels.