how loud is your conga

[Mario2CP]

hey guys,
has anyone of you ever meassured loudness exposure of your ear while you play congas? i wanna know, because of possible noise induced hearing damage or tinitus...
i've noticed that when i play for a long time and practice slaps a lot, i get ringing in ears for some time after playing. So far it's allways gone away within few minutes/hours and I dont notice that unless i'm in really silent enviroment. All in all, i want to protect my hearing....

Thank you

Mario

[deadhead]

Foam earplugs are a cheap effective way to protect your hearing. A lot of pro drummers use them.

[caballoballo]

Yes earplugs are the way to go for protection. Musician friend has sets called hearos for only $12. That type cuts about 12db , you can hear everything but at a lower volume. There are some other more sophisticated but are far more expensive.

Even some companys will custumize the plugs to fit your ears.

[jorge]

Good and important question. I just took my Radio Shack sound level meter and measured the sound pressure level at ear position in my rehearsal studio, about 1.5 feet from the center of the skin. My rehearsal studio has lots of bass traps and is very dead sounding with almost no reverberation, so these measurements are probably a little less loud than you would get in a normal room with lots of sound reflection.

I used the A-weighted slow response (standard for noise level, it ignores lower frequencies that do less damage to hearing). The C-weighted response doesn't ignore the lower frequencies and generally gives a higher dB reading but is less meaningful with regard to hearing damage. Most hearing loss studies have used dBA not dBC, and the OSHA noise standard is given in dBA for these reasons.

I used a Skin on Skin 12" oak conga with a pretty thick bull hide skin that sounds pretty good with a band, great as a tres dos in rumba, but is not as loud as some super loud salsa drums (eg, LP fiberglass) that don't sound as pretty.

Here are my measurements:
Tumbao on 1 drum, normal volume: 92-98 dBA
Roll of tones, as loud as I could play: 108-112 dBA
Roll of slaps, as loud as I could play: 108-112 dBA
In indoor rumbas with 2 mics on the singers, I have measured 115 dBA at coro singing position
Yesterday at the Central Park rumba (outside), just the normal rumba was clipping the mic on my Zoom H2 recorder on the lowest input gain setting, but I didn't measure sound pressure level.

All of these sound levels are capable of doing damage to your hearing, the higher the level, the less time it takes. My ears always ring after rumbas if I don't wear hearing protection. Playing clave seems to be the worst, especially with those high pitched dark rosewood claves. I have moderate permanent high frequency hearing loss, almost definitely from playing congas and clave for 38 years, mostly without hearing protection.

The OSHA occupational noise standard is here:
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp ... &p_id=9735

Table G-16 tells us the permissible duration in hours per day (5 day week) depends on the average sound pressure level during that period. So the table tells us that practicing 1 conga in a room at home at 95 dBA for more than 4 hours a day can damage your hearing permanently. My ears tell me it is worse than that. In particular, slaps make my ears ring after 3 or 4 minutes, and the sound pressure level of a single slap is hard to measure. Also the slap is in the higher frequency range that more easily damages your hearing. So I think playing congas probably does more damage than the measured sound pressure level would predict.

Bottom line: if you play congas with moderate loudness or louder, you should use hearing protection, especially if you play with other percussion or amplified instruments. The best indicator of excessive loudness is ringing ears, especially the next day. If your ears ring after gigs or rumbas, you should use hearing protection. I highly recommend making the investment in custom molded hearing protectors using the 9 dB filters (filters available in 9, 15, 25 dB attenuation). They are expensive ($200-$300 range including audiometry and molding and protectors) but you can't buy new ears for any price and the hearing loss becomes permanent after many repeated exposures to loud sounds. For really loud music, you can use the 15 or 20 dB filters that come in much cheaper hearing protectors you can buy in music stores, but I find it hard to play on time with those in. You need to hear the cata, clave, bell, or bombo to stay on time and 15 dB cut is too much for me.

[Uber Jalemon]

I use th ER20 earplug

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx

[thomas newton]

I use th ER20 earplug

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx

I use 'elacin' brand - which are very similar, not so much when I'm playing (which is almost always unamplified) but near PA systems or other amplified sources.

[Mario2CP]

Thank you Jorge for all infromation and measurements. It's very interesting and scary too if I imagine how dangerous conga is.

I started using foam earplugs which isolate 30-35 dB depending on frequency.
Do ER20 preserve "natural" sound? 'cause my plugs deform sound spectrum quite significantly. Its pretty annoying to realize that all the time I spend saerching for drum with great sound was more or less pointless...

thanks to all for comments!
Mario

[vinnieL]

The earplugs help but i wouldn't go crazy about finding the perfect plugs. I work in the medical field and unfortunately you oral and nasal cavities are all connected with the inner workings of the ears. So what this means is that yes hearing protection helps but it is limited and will always be limited no matter what as sound and pressure waves make their way to your inner ear via nasal and oral passages as well. Don't go crazy find a set of plugs you are comfortable with they will certainely help but just realize they are all limited. This in an area that ive looked into extensively for some time for other reasons. A good set of plugs you are comfortable wearing for long periods of time will serve you well. They will all affect the way your drums sound to you the other alternative is an expensive set of noise cancelling electronic plugs but these will also affect the sounds you hear in certain pitch ranges to some degree but they are a viable alternative. Good luck with your search.