I was probably on here whining about my left ear a year or so ago. I've tried a few types of ear plugs, without getting into high-end stuff ... but not long ago, I found out that what works best is just a bit of kleenex stuffed into my ear. I keep a few of those tan-coloured paper napkins from A&W on hand to stick a bit in my ear if I feel the need at a jam or performance - not quite as noticeable, I figure.

I used to use cigarette filters. But probably not to many smokers here these days, including me.

I performed in a theater show where the band had to quickly exit upstage and pass in front of an intern firing real guns in the small backstage area. We were given simple cotton earplugs, not too different from a cigarette filter, which I still have in my case, although I've never needed them again.
I do worry a little about your playing environment though, NCnotes, but I don't have any suggestions, except don't sit next to the piper.

They do make special high-fidelity musician ear plugs. Unlike regular foam they don't block al the sound. They are around $25-50; though some custom options that will take specific molding to fit your ear.

IMO, totally worth owning good pair if you find yourself going to venues/concerts or gig and type of music where it's going to be loud, esp if drums and amps, PA/monitors.

The other option is just avoid that type exposure. Sound energy dissipates with distance, so where sit can have effect. Might tend to avoid some of those  sessions; with those type of folks that make it big and loud. Acoustic music especially, just IMO doesn't need to be that loud.

Of course playing a loud violin up to your ear still creates a problem for many folks, takes it's toll over time; and many have found it useful to always wear those good ear plugs, even just practicing at home.

Can check out what Sweetwater offers, as well as infor about these ear plugs as scroll down.

I guess I will try stuffing wads in my ears.
Maybe I’ll come later…so I’ll be forced to sit on the outer edges…LOL! Such scheming…

Interns firing live guns??! Sounds like quite a show! :-)

yea, thanks Geo, I will look into those too!

I often like to turn up to a session early (first) to get in a good position. I heard about a good monthly session about 20 minutes away. So I went and it was great. The next month I got in first, picked my spot, happy days every body filled the room. Then the session leader came in last and plonked a speaker about 5 feet from my left ear and mic’d up his accordion. The pain in my ear was excruciating at times. There was nowhere to go and I didn’t want to make a show by packing up and leaving. After 5 tune sets and 1 song I couldn’t bare it anymore so I did pack it in and never went back. If I find myself in that situation again I have two of those scrunchie earplugs in my case and I always have two beenies which I can wear right down over my ears and fold the bottom over for maximum filtration. You just need to find a beenie that filters out pipes. :-)

Martyjoe, mic'ing an accordion is illegal in these parts :-)
Things can get pretty loud in our local session too, and I keep a pair of foam ear plugs in my fiddle case. Somehow I never think to put them in my ears though.

A few years ago, I go tinnitus overnight from sitting in front of the horns and trumpets at a special Ambler Symphony rehearsal in a particularly wonderful sound space (I play clarinet). After that I found that high overtones were rather disturbing and resorted to putting a loose piece of cotton in each ear, even when I play fiddle, clarinet or whistle, alone. For me it cuts out the high overtones, but has a minimal effect on reducing the volume (maybe about 10%).

I have hearing loss in my left ear from shooting. To avoid further damage, I remove my left hearing aid and block that ear when playing fiddle. Unfortunately, that sometimes makes it hard to hear when people call tunes in jams.

Marty Joe, that sounds terrible! I hate when people mic themselves! I would have run away too.

Carlb, yea I can imagine how loud that would be! I felt like my right ear was ringing slightly on and off after that session...it's gone away now, thank heaven.

Yea my quandary is that the pipes player is a session friend who used to be a low whistle player.... we had a habit of sitting next to eachother because we play the same tunes (same Learning sesh). Yesterday we sat next to eachother as usual and I didn't have a second thought, only now we were squished into the corner of a busy pub and I was like a foot away from his pipes! I'm definitely going to start carrying some ear protection...I think I'll get one "real pair" AND keep some handy cotton wads/napkins in my case.

For quite a few years now I've been wearing hearing protection for just about all of my playing time. I have some silicone plugs from Etymotic that have worked very well for me. They cut out most of the high freqs that aggravate my tinnitus but let normal speech tones through. Better than foam plugs. I may use just one in the left ear or I may use both in the normal way. I wear the smallest size they offer quite comfortably for several hours at a time. I take them to movie theaters and other over-amped sound environments. Since I got hearing aids I can just turn them off but I like the balanced amount of hearing the single earplug on the left gives me in a jam environment. My ears still feel fatigued after a few hours. The ringing isn't so bad.

I wear the same Etymotic plugs under muffs when shooting. If I lift the muffs to hear speech better, I still get some protection should someone fire off a round nearby.

I’ve heard good things about the custom-fitted variety. I’ve also heard some good things about some of the off-the-shelf variety that are made for musicians. I agree that you can get a decent cancellation of frequencies with even a simple plug or makeshift plug, although I think it’s probably worth it to invest in a “good” set if you’re going to be in a lot of loud settings.

I’ve thought about this a lot in the past. I’ve never used earplugs while playing, but I’ve been fortunate enough not to be in a lot of really loud settings. If I were to do more orchestral playing again, I think I would invest in them. Most jams I attend are not particularly loud, so I haven’t had a need. I haven’t gone to the sessions in my area that are known for being loud, but from what I hear, earplugs would be a very good idea if I ever wanted to go.

The issue really got my attention a few years ago when a customer had to go on disability from her orchestra because of permanent hearing loss. She ended up having to retire earlier than she’d have chosen. Fortunately, she can still teach and play in smaller ensembles without as much complication (she’s still an active quartet player), but it was a wakeup call for a lot of people to safeguard their ears.

I started putting in foam earplugs when I used a bandsaw in long stretches years ago. I’d saw up spruce billets to rough out bassbar blanks and I’d notice just how loud the saw really was once I’d shut it off. The maker who taught me suffered hearing loss on one side as a result of working on large ordnance in the Army and he stressed the importance of hearing protection to me with loud tools, so that also helped me to keep it in mind. I hope it will help me to maintain my hearing as well as possible.

yes, sadly, it seems like hearing loss is common for musicians in all genres…you would think folk and classical (as “unplugged” genres) would be “safe” but even players in those genres can get hearing loss….it’s not just the rock and roll / death metal players! But I think those type of players may be more aware of hearing risk from the start - where unplugged acoustic players rarely think about it happening to them.

A kid drove by with one of those amplified stereo systems in his car today…his music was very loud to me, walking down the sidewalk 20 feet away. What must it sound like in his car? Whole car must be shaking! I felt like an old lady, but I was worrying about his future hearing loss due to his insanely loud music…

Gonna go look up that “etymotic” brand…Thanks for all the tips and thoughts here.

You can't tell the kids to tone it down...they all think loud music won't hurt them. Anyway, I've thought about trying to protect my ears a lot but never have...I can't stand ear plugs, the way they feel in my ears...once I did buy some silicone things that were sorta like placing a wad of bubble gum just inside the ear opening, not any farther into your ear. I bought them because we were doin' a lot of shootin' at the time...You can make them block the hearing a lot or just a little, if I remember right...not sure now. I should do something like that. When I recorded a lot, I worried about how loud I needed the headphones in order to have the mix just the way I wanted it...had to hear every detail and seems I kept getting it louder and louder...hope I didn't do any damage...but I don't know what a person can do about headphones. Anyway, I did like the silicone ear things better than plugs that swell up in your ear canal...that feels weird to me...lol.

Ear health is something many folks don't think about, unless it's really loud, or until it later becomes problem. Including musicians, despite the importance of having and maintaining healthy ears, for rest of life.

Keep in mind there are different types of potentially harmful sound. Some obvious and immediate pain/annoyance; short high SPL attack transients (like gun, snare, horn stabs); and high pitch whistle/squeal. Then there are just overall duration exposure; doesn't have to be have those peaks; nor be annoying or painfully loud. Most folks might think of motors/equipment noise; but there are exposure to what don't consider noise, maybe ambient noise floor; or music. We tend to acclimate to loud so might nor even seem that loud at the moment (might even seem pleasurable); as well tends to raise overall noise floor, perception of loud. This has cumulative effect exposed for a few hours, which might be noticeable in short term, ear fatigue, ringing, is generally temporary. Then there is long term effect... too much of that or that; or it can be slow, gradual cumulative over years of even modest, less noticeable but increased exposure. (like ambient sound of workspace, traffic, or maybe 75-80dB music, or violin in left ear).

There are charts that give recommended exposure/duration of average dB level limits in hours. As musicians, might be good idea to measure the actual environment exposed to (whether practicing alone at home, or at big jam, or on stage/monitors). There are free Decimal Meter apps for your phone; that are generally can be calibrated to good enough to give a ballpark reference to see how comparative loud environment is. Probably dBA weighted, but some can do dB(C).

As far as protection, I am skeptical about effectiveness of wads of napkin, or cotton. While might seem filter some high frequencies, but don't seal, without a seal, gaps still expose to overall high SPL. Foam earplugs is better for overall noise; are readily available, and inexpensive. Can get bag of them at around $0.25 a pair. Should always have some with you. With good seal, can attenuate -30db or more... but mostly block out higher freq much more, and that can make sound (speech or music) a bit muffled, undefined, lack detail and sense of dynamics. For many musicians, (esp acoustic/quieter), and unused to them; can make them seem not good option. Still might be better than no protection; depends how loud, duration and how often.

As mentioned previous, while the other options (like Etymotic or loop) are more expensive, they do better job; are reusable, more comfortable, generally just slightly quieter, less attenuation (-6 to -20) but over more flat freq range. Might need to check how much attenuation you need/want, though some have adjustable attenuation options/filters. These are probably all most need for most situations, once get fit, dialed in and used to them. But then of course there are more pricey electronic based solutions, might use noise canceling software, or like IEM; that you can use app to adjust level and freq. EQ.

FWIW, that car going by that sounds loud, it's probably sub bass, (very long wave) and it doesn't affect the person in the car as much as think.

I just looked at the earplugs the theater gave us, and they're some kind of foam, not cotton. Of course they're almost 30 years old, but look like they would still work.
I've spent a lot of time playing on stages, sometimes for large crowds through large sound systems. The volume levels onstage were usually very modest though, and we always tried to stand as close together as possible. In the early days we often didn't have monitors, so we were hearing normal acoustic levels (if the main system didn't "foldback" too much), and sometimes no sound system at all, which was totally acoustic. It wasn't always so easy to hear though, and sometimes I had to keep together by watching the fiddle players fingers and bows.
I can't imagine micing an accordion in a jam session, but people do strange things sometimes.

I would recommend something like this: D’Addario – Planet Waves – Pacato Hearing Protection – Full Frequency Ear Plugs

I have a pair, not this brand but similar, that were designed to be used on a shooting range which are full frequency. Bought mine many years ago and tried to find them online to show but couldn't locate anything exactly like what I have.The full frequency factor I think is critical because it allows you to have a full range of sound and carry on normal conversation without taking them out, etc. The foam in-ear type and the headphone type work but muffle everything so much you can't really hear the sound in music. When I use mine I can hear everything, it's just not as loud. They also work great for loud rock and roll shows in small rooms.

Wow thank you guys, this is all great info.

I'm going to check out the "decibel monitoring' app, I'm curious what decibels my fiddling is at!

Doug that's interesting...I always think concerts are so loud, but nice that for you guys on stage it sounds like a regular jam.

I looked at enzymotic and the first ones ("Musician Pro") were like $400!? Losing one of those would be quite a blow! But they have normal ones for like $15-$19, so I ordered a pair to try out. But I'm still going to sit further away from the pipes next time :-) I'll enjoy them more at a lower decibel!

NCnotes - The "decibel monitoring app" will probably be listed as a sound level meter, or SPL meter.

The green Etymotic silicone plugs. I must have a dozen of them in various places. Approx. -15Db. Pretty flat. Playing outside with no earplugs is a gas, but using these things lets me hold out much longer, and in a lot of environments. Transatlantic flights. Bars. Movie theaters. Festival campgrounds during nap time. Unless you know you've got 8 ga. ears, stick with the green, or regular size. When they say size large, they do not kid.

A shop near me carries Earasers. They’re silicone and claim to be the first to have a flat frequency response. They’re more expensive but they sell a model made specifically for musicians. I haven’t tried them but they look well made and they come in a nice protective metal container.

I guess the size large Etymotic is for people who look like “Dumbo”?! :-)

Last night’s session wasn’t too hard on the ears with our resident pipers. If they were too loud it would be a good complaint to have. That’s my fiddle that fits carry-on on the table.