DJ Hearing Loss: What Is Tinnitus ?

 

 

Most of us are either not aware of, or don’t even think that a possible damage in our ears can happen, because of DJ’ing for a long time.

Rooms or halls with very high volume of sound and noise are in the nature of being a professional DJ. You are exposed to it for hours at every single gig. Frequent continuation of it may trigger the beginning of a dysfunction in your ears, which is called “Tinnitus”.

So, what is tinnitus ? Let me explain.

Tinnitus is the existence of noise in human ear when there is no external sound present. It’s like your ears are ringing for no reason.

Anybody can experience this after being in a place where sound is extreme for a long time. Of course, it’s temporary and gone after a while.

Well, it’s not the case for DJs. Think about yourself playing and mixing music 3 days a week, at least 4 or 5 hours each. You’re in the booth with near field monitor speakers and very close to a powerful main sound system. Music pumping non-stop.

Doing the same thing over and over for many years would leave some damage in your ears, no doubt. Basically, you gradually start losing your ability to hear like a normal person. You hear less and there’s always noise in your ears.

If you are at the beginning of a DJ’ing career, this is something you should pay close attention and protect yourself from a possible tinnitus problem. How can you do that ? Let’s see.

 

How To Protect Your Ears

 

The first and the most important step is reducing the amount of volume close to you, as much as possible.

DJs may not always be able to control the amount of power on the main sound system, but they do it for the monitor speakers near them.

Those speakers become your enemy if kept too loud for a long time. Here is the situation: If you turn your monitors up too much, then you’d have to do the same with your headphones, in order to balance the music in your ears.

First step is to adjust volume on both, as low as possible and comfortable for you. You don’t need to compete with the floor. if you don’t mix, turn them off. Use monitors as you need them. This way, your ears can take a break from that loudness and relax.

Don’t forget, amount of volume always goes high later in the night where there’s a point it maxes out and gets distorted. Don’t get caught in that trap.

You can also use in-ear headphones which isolate outside noise. Most DJs don’t really prefer such ear pieces as they prevent you from hearing the real sound around and on the dance floor. Being able to hear the main sound while mixing is essential for DJs.

If there is no way you can change the condition of loudness where you DJ, then you can use special ear plugs eliminating some of the sound and reducing its decibel. These plugs may not be comfortable, but a good idea if conditions are severe.

 

Being a succesful professional DJ requires a good health of your ears and hearing ability. You should be careful about how much sound and noise you get exposed to and protect yourself from it.

 

 

 

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Last updated by Murat Celikbas on April 24, 2018.