The Importance of Early Attention to High-Volume Exposure
Volume is the biggest danger to hearing that drummers face. Drummers have more hearing damage than any other musician because our instrument is the loudest of all acoustic instruments, and unlike amplified instruments, it isn’t easy to just turn it down.
57.6 percent of professional drummers and 44.2 percent of amateur players have tinnitus at a rate 3 to 4 times higher than non-musicians.
As one might imagine, little ears are particularly vulnerable to damage from excessive noise. Due to a narrower ear canal, sounds are amplified further for children, making a loud noise even louder. The auditory system in kids may also be more susceptible to damage simply due to its immature state of development. Protecting your kid’s hearing is especially vital not only because it may be more vulnerable to damage but also because hearing plays a vital role in learning and education and social development.
Potential Hearing Damage = 80 Decibel
Acoustic Drum Heads = 100 to 120 Decibels
Thankfully, there is a safe, practical, and easy way to keep your child’s ears safe — RTOM’s line of low-volume practice systems. Our Black Holes and LV Mesh Heads reduce the volume of acoustic kits while maintaining their tone and feel, offering solutions whereby players no longer have to choose between quality sound and low volume.
RTOM’S LOW VOLUME PRACTICE SOLUTIONS + DRUM SCHOOLS = PRACTICE MADE PERFECT™
As a testament to how beneficial Black Holes and LV Mesh Heads are to young drummers and a productive learning environment, their use in drum schools in recent years has skyrocketed. Franchise schools like School of Rock in California, New York and Oregon (to name a few!) have added Black Holes to their percussion kits to facilitate teaching multiple students on multiple kits concurrently while allowing instruction during play. Tom Vidal, Owner of School of Rock Queens writes:
“At School of Rock Queens, we have two drum rooms that share walls with other lesson rooms and rehearsal spaces. Even though we spent considerable resources on sound attenuation during construction, the noise from the drums was still loud enough to disrupt lessons in adjacent rooms. We tried the Black Hole system in one of the drum rooms, and it solved the problem completely! The volume was greatly reduced, while still maintaining a live feel and tone. The heads pop on and off easily, allowing students to play at full volume when adjacent rooms are empty. We snap them back on when the school is busy, allowing us to fully maximize all of our available space. It’s a perfect solution – we just ordered sets for all of our drums kits. Thank you RTOM!”
