That Pedal Show | Hearing Protection, Loss & Damage For Musicians [A Conversation With Tom Trones Of Minuendo] @ThatPedalShow | Uploaded November 2023 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Love playing loud? So do we… But you might need to think about this too…

Welcome to the show! Regular viewers might be a little bit confused by this. Dan and I will die on the hill defending the right of musicians (and guitar players – ha!) to be able to play loud. If there’s no loud, there’s no rock’n’roll – it’s as simple as that.

However, nothing that’s actually worth anything in life is free (except maybe love, but that’s a whole other story). Those volume-created endorphins that make live music such a blissful experience have a cost, and it can be your hearing. Many are the tales of musicians famous and less so, whose hearing has suffered irreparable damage as a result of exposure to extended loud noise.
So what are we to do? What do we need to know and what are some of things we can do?
This conversation includes one intelligent human – Tom Trones of Minuendo – and two others just about hanging in there, discussing all of the above without hubris or shock factor. Consider it a springboard – if you haven’t already jumped – to better awareness of the issues surrounding noise and volume. What we all do after that is, inevitably, up to us as individuals. Food for thought, we hope.

Enjoy the show!

• Minuendo on the web: minuendo.com
• Musician’s Union Hearing Health Scheme: musiciansunion.org.uk/membership-benefits/musicians-hearing-health-scheme

Interesting bits and go-to sections
0:00 Hello & welcome
1:24 What are we discussing this?
2:25 Why Tom, who is Tom?
3:45 Why we don’t love earplugs
5:42 What is the actual problem?
7:35 First tinnitus experience?
9:18 dB - sound pressure and time
11:45 Genetic & physiological factors?
14:00 Measurement & distance?
16:50 Frequency and damage?
19:00 Early signs
20:49 The playing ‘feel’ problem
24:50 Give yourself time
27:15 Sensitivity and desensitisation?
30:35 The actual physical damage
31:31 It’s not always tinnitus
35:45 The lies we tell ourselves
37:00 How strong for the filters?
38:45 Let’s make some noise
43:55 Dan loves the loud connection
49:45 Finger in the ear: occlusion
51:00 Tom has a play
54:00 Closing thoughts

Guitars used in this show
• Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
USA: sweetwater.sjv.io/q40QRb

• PRS Myles Kennedy Signature
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
USA: sweetwater.sjv.io/B0GNjB

• Amps used in today’s show
Hamstead Artist 20+RT with 1 x 12 Celestion Alnico Cream Speaker
UK & Europe: bit.ly/2LRf2ae

• Marshall 1962 BluesBreaker Combo with Celestion G12M Greenback speakers

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