nicksneddon I think it gauges how much protection you may need ( there are different grades ) – and I did it for my own curiosity as well

Fair enough.

It’s just that looking at the acs website for instance the description for the 17db ones is:
“The standard for amplified musicians, DJ’s, vocalists, sound engineers, clubbers and gig-goers.”

while for 15db it’s:
“Suitable for unplugged musicians including vocalists, wood and brass musicians, and orchestras.”

My last pair were the acs 17s, and I just assumed they always pushed club-goers to them. Elacin have similar with suggesting the 15db ones for club-goers.

I have at times thought the acs 17s felt a bit overkill though. If I ever get round to buying another pair I might switch to the 15s of either, maybe even enquire about the 10s for occasional use - depending on the frequency reponses of them.

      mjh Custom molded in-ear plugs are the way to go. As a fellow tinnitus sufferer, I’ve been front row for arena concerts with them and walked out without a shade of ringing. Wish I’d discovered them 20 years ago.

          hugopal Ill have a scout around my emails, I must have a record of the ones I was given – I remember at the time I was thinkkng about getting stronger ones however after using them for years im more than happy with them

            303abuser Yeah this is it mate, I completely regret not buying them decades ago. Oh well

              I had one bad night at a shit club to see Kevin Saunderson. The highs were piercing and I’d forgotten my ear plugs at home. Ears were still ringing the next day, it never went away. I’m lucky that I can usually tune it out, but I really miss silence.

              • Amps replied to this.

                You know the bass bins that normally have empty bottles of beer in by the end of the night? There was a dealer in the Temple Theatre who used to sit in one of those, absolutely minged off his mash.
                I’m thinking of him right now.

                  303abuser Ears were still ringing the next day

                  Sepultura and Pantera, Donington 1994, front and centre, took a week to get my hearing back to normal. Makes me shudder thinking about it now.

                      Amps Yeah, I don’t have too many regrets, but that show is one of them. I have a bit of situational deafness too, I find picking up conversations to be a challenge sometimes in busy environments. I’m so careful with volume now.

                      • Amps replied to this.

                          303abuser I find picking up conversations to be a challenge sometimes in busy environments

                          Yeah, I have this massively. A busy pub can be a nightmare. I find I get better after an hour or so. Couple of beers doesn’t do any harm either.

                              TitianWarrior I have constant tinnitus and it’s wank. All self-inflicted though so I can’t even be mad at anyone

                              I’m amazed I haven’t. Some of the damage I did to my ears, especially with the Shelley’s/eclipse systems was off the chain. I spent days with partial hearing usually into midweek. Some nights we used to joke when we left the club that we couldn’t actually hear one another talking for a few hours. For a laugh we used to stick our heads in the giant bass bins to see how long you could last.

                              There was a big group of us, most of whom Im still in touch with and don’t know of one of us that got permanent hearing damage from it. Must just be luck of the draw because we were all exposed to ridiculous levels weekly for years. You never came across those levels post 95ish. People started wising up to it.
                              Hope you find a solution mate 👍

                                  Cankles-McJeggings I’m amazed I haven’t. Some of the damage I did to my ears, especially with the Shelley’s/eclipse systems was off the chain. I spent days with partial hearing usually into midweek.

                                  you lot are lucky bastards!

                                  I’ll be honest, I’m purely spitballing here, but I’ve seemed to notice:

                                  1. My friends with DJ careers who have tinnitus, seem to have used Sennheiser HD-25 headphones for years and years
                                  2. I get much worse hearing damage (ringing for hours) from Mids and Trebles than bass
                                  3. Someone wrote a post recently about how much brighter/harsher HD-25 headphones are in these areas when turned up, compared with other headphones

                                  Although the HD-25 are crystal clear, I own a pair of those and I own a pair of “AIAIAI TMA-2 DJ Preset” - which I played on for 7 years prior, and I can definitely tell how easy it is on my mixer to turn the HD-25s up too loud in comparison.

                                      I bought and sold the senhiessers within a month.
                                      Absolutely awful for DJing. Harsh , uncomfortable you name it. Horrible fucking things. I switched to Sony Mdr7506s and have never looked back. Over 20 years in fact.

                                        Cankles-McJeggings pretty much everyone DJs with them in Finland. I also don’t like them. I really miss my A&H Xone-headphones that got stolen. Wish they’d still make them. The Phonon’s I use now are also discontinued, but losing them too is not a high risk situation as I only use them at home. Too expensive, and delicate. I have Audio Technica ath-m50s for gigs, they’re pretty close to the Xone-headphones in terms of sound.

                                            My wife thinks I’m going deaf, but I get my hearing tested every year as part of my medical and it’s on the turn, but nothing to worry about. She could help my not speaking to me whilst walking away and whispering so that she feels she has an excuse to berate me for having to say everything twice. The reality is that I’m just not listening.