In-Ear Monitors - A Risk To Your Hearing?
By Empire Ears

In-Ear Monitors - A Risk To Your Hearing?

The thought of losing your hearing should petrify musicians and audiophiles alike. Although you can make like Beethoven and chomp on some metal to induce jawbone conduction, we think it’s just much simpler to take care of your ears. While there’s an inherent risk to your hearing with any personal audio equipment like headphones, earbuds, or in-ear monitors, the following tips will help you preserve your precious hearing without lessening your enjoyment or productivity. In short, it’s all about the isolation.


Professional Use - using stage mix with full ear canal occlusion means that you’re protected from the high stage volumes. Using a lower volume in ear will reduce risk of hearing loss and ear fatigue because of the premier sound isolation afforded by our custom in-ear monitors. Prolonged exposure to any noise levels above 85dB poses a risk for damaging your hearing - more details HERE. That isolation allows a quieter mix while still providing all the information and feedback required to perform at your highest level. Often, an amplified stage can produce up to 110-115dB for the musicians performing, so taking the isolation offered by the custom in ear monitors we provide can reduce this to safe levels, in addition to allowing for a silent stage, making performing safer and more comfortable than ever before. Read more about the silent stage HERE.


For enjoying music - the sound isolation comes into play again. You can keep your volume lower when you’re not competing with ambient noise. The passive sound isolation from the fully occluded ear canal is substantial, meaning that you don’t need to blast your music to enjoy it. Listening on an airplane or in a loud office need no longer be an issue; protect yourself from loud ambient noises while delivering your sweet music. Most IEMs are very sensitive, capable of presenting the most nuanced elements of any given track, and we've engineered our ground breaking in-ear monitors to honestly represent the source material at any volume, providing you with the level of clarity and detail necessary to get the most from your music. 


Don’t damage your hearing:


  • 85dB is the damage threshold, and will cause permanent damage after 8 hours of exposure.
  • 100dB will cause damage after about 15 minutes. This is roughly the volume of a jackhammer.
  • 120dB is the pain threshold. Volumes at this level will cause hearing loss after being exposed for a very short duration, and will be very painful to endure.

How do decibels work?


Sound is measured in decibels, a metric first devised by. Decibels are a metric representing the amount of sound pressure travelling through a medium which is why the devices used to measure them are sometimes referred to as Sound Pressure Level meters. Unlike counting on the number line or using your speedometer, the Decibel Scale is not linear, but instead is logarithmic. Instead of 20mph being twice as fast as 10mph, or 30mph being 3 times as fast as 10mph, 20dB represents sound pressure levels 10x more intense than 10dB, and 30dB is ten times more intense than 20dB. The relationship between perceived volume and Decibels is tha an increase of 10dB is roughly perceived as twice as loud. So, 20dB is 10x more intense pressure levels and 2x as loud as 10dB, and 30dB is 100x more intense and 4x as loud as 10dB. Confused? Understandable, you can read more HERE.