Ear Fatigue, What it Means? and Why Sound Enginer Should Avoid This?
Ear Fatigue, We often hear advice that we shouldn’t listen to songs for a long time, let alone use headsets, earphones, or even earbuds. This is related to ear health because music played loud enough and for a long duration can weaken the sense of hearing and result in ear fatigue. In the world of music, this is often found in sound engineers. I wonder why?
This Condition is Called Ear Fatigue
Ear fatigue or hearing fatigue is a temporary condition where a person experiences hearing loss or discomfort after being exposed to loud sounds for a long time. This is a common problem experienced by audio engineers, mixers, musicians, and anyone involved in an environment exposed to high levels of sound.
It turns out that there are two conditions that can cause ear fatigue in people who are constantly exposed to sound, namely mental and physical. Mental causes involve the brain’s response to excessive sound stimulation or repeated distractions. Sensory overload or excess sensory stimulation can cause a temporary decrease in hearing sensitivity similar to ear fatigue. Excessive exposure to visuals and sounds can really trigger a defensive response in the brain, and lead to a disorder called ear fatigue.
Meanwhile, ear fatigue can also be caused by physical exposure to intense sound. Stereocilia, the fine hairs in the ear that respond to sound waves, can be damaged by exposure to sounds that are too loud or prolonged. Damaged stereocilia will cause ear fatigue. Although ear fatigue is usually temporary, repeated exposure to too much loud noise also has a bad impact because it can permanently damage the stereocilia. It’s scary too.
Why Should You Avoid Ear Fatigue?
An audio engineer is absolutely obliged to avoid ear fatigue for reasons of long-term hearing health and also the quality of short-term audio work. Long-term hearing health is very important to maintain a long and successful career in music. If your hearing is too damaged from repeated exposure to loud sounds, it may be difficult to work out the audio details required in recording and mixing.
You May Also Like:
The quality of short-term audio performance is also affected by ear fatigue, as the ability to hear details and make good audio decisions decreases when you experience ear fatigue. Usually, after a few hours of listening to various music and sounds, you will start to have difficulty distinguishing between good audio and bad audio. After about 8 hours of work, your sensitivity will decrease, and it will be very difficult to really tell how loud the sound is. And what’s worse, if you are already affected by ear fatigue, you will have difficulty making quality vocal mixes the next day. Don’t want it to be like this, do you?
That’s why it’s very important to maintain your hearing health so you don’t get ear fatigue. Because it’s not just for short-term ear health, but also for long-term health. Besides, you don’t want to produce a messy mix because of ear fatigue, right?
