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The subject of hearing protection came up at rehearsal last night. One of the guys has tinnitus, which can be pronounced either of the ways you’re wondering might be correct. The band’s ex-bassist had it too.

Meanwhile I’m sitting there whacking away at my drum kit, seemingly oblivious to the fact that 30 years from now my ears will be ringing like a cheap steel snare. Maybe by then the Dream Theater fan club will be offering group discounts on hearing aids.

I suspect my drums are louder 10 feet away than they are for me, in the middle of the kit — ironically, my seat might be the quietest one in the house. Even so, it’s dumb for me to risk my hearing, especially given that I own the world’s best earplugs. I’ll remedy that shortly.

You should know that one over-loud concert can nuke your hearing for life. An co-worker of mine from years back, an audiophile and music-lover, has tinnitus in one ear because he was seated in front of a speaker tower at a Journey show about 30 years ago. His right ear has been ringing ever since. He said it was a great show. For what that’s worth.

A company I’ve mentioned in this space before, Etymotic, makes a product designed to allow users to enjoy loud music without damaging their hearing: Musician’s Earplugs. The earplugs are custom-fit, and accept three strengths of filter: -9dB, -15dB, -25dB.

Dime-store foam earplugs attenuate at a greater level — by which I mean, foam plugs are quieter than these — but the problem is not strictly volume. Foam plugs cut high frequencies much more than low frequencies. As a result, music sounds dull, muffled and fake. The Etymotic plugs achieve a much flatter frequency response, so music sounds more natural, but quieter.

Because these are custom made for each user, the earplugs can’t be bought off the shelf (or on Ebay). You have to go through an audiologist, because you’ll need extra-deep impressions made of your ears. More on this in a minute.

Etymotic offers a list of earmold labs, but if you call them you’ll likely find that they refer you out to someone local. You might be better off with your own local Yellow Pages.

The plugs cost about $150/pair, plus whatever the audiologist charges to take the impression. The earplugs come with one set of filters. I recommend the 9dB model for spectators, or the 15dB model for people on stage. See this attenuation recommendation chart.

A friend of mine was initially turned away by the audiologist because of earwax buildup. Running an occasional swab through your ears is not an appropriate, nor sufficient, hygienic measure. Buy an earwash kit at the drugstore, or visit your doctor’s office to have the nurse scrub you clean. They can’t take accurate impressions if your ear canals are occluded.

I had my impressions made at the offices of H.E.A.R. in San Francisco, when they had a staff audiologist who donated an evening a week to preventing the next generation of great San Francisco musicians — and me, too — from going deaf.

His first step was to insert a tiny disk of rigid foam into my ear canal. Way in. Like, about four inches. He kept pushing, way past what I would have guessed was the point where the ear canal ends and the brain begins. When he put in the left side, I think it moved the disk on the right. It was scary, and loud, too. And if I recall correctly, it hurt, so he was pretty much batting zero for three. But that was the worst part.

The audiologist then mixed up some kind of rubber impression compound. He loaded it into a large-bore syringe and injected it into each ear, and then packed it in with his fingers. At least, I think he used his fingers.

And then I sat, for fifteen minutes, while the impression compound set up. I couldn’t hear anything except my own breathing, which was ragged and somewhat desperate. If you’ve never been fitted for earplugs, you won’t be able to relate, I realize. Suffice to say the entire process was uniquely unpleasant.

The modeling compound pulled out easily. I was ecstatic to see the little foam disk stuck on the end of the mold — I couldn’t imagine the audiologist going in after it with a really long needle or forceps or something. Or, rather, I could imagine it, which is why I was so glad to see it come out on its own.

The molds were sent off to a lab, and two weeks later I picked up my earplugs. They were tough to put in the first time, but immediately useful. “They make my drums sound better,” I wrote at the time.

Hey, maybe they’ll make my band sound better, too. (Just kiddin’, guys!)

Update — see also the High Fidelity Ear Filters from Hearos. There’s a nice review at the website of the Enemy. I can’t vouch for these plugs, and in my opinion a 20db cut is too much attenuation, but for the price you could certainly afford to experiment.