i'm under the hospital's audiology dept for tinnitus and they advised i pursue bespoke moulded plugs. hard to find exact pricing online. guy in the boots eyes&ear desk was surprised when i asked if they'd take moulds.
had a consultation with an audiologist at another place and it's £90 for the moulds (2x45) or £350 all in for moulds and plugs. that's just not cost effective.
i'm a disabled hobbyist musician but i do attend or play gigs several times a month. disposables are ok but the audiologist seemed to think bespoke, quality ones kept clean would help prevent the chronic irritation/infections i have had.
i paid my subs for the MU under the impression i could get steep discounts on this sort of thing but the first thing they ask is "is music your main source of income" which it simply isn't. do i just lie to get these plugs? i'm already on the hook for my MU subs and i can't afford nearly £400 on the plugs, which - let's face it - will probably get lost at some point.
not sure what to do. next hospital appointment is late October and they're running out of things to recommend.
Comments
ACS will definitely be able to point you to your best local options for taking impressions
https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/get-support/physical-health/protect-your-hearing
If you don't make a living out of it, you shouldn't be eligible for the discount, but the plugs you would get on the scheme are around £150 to buy through ACS directly at normal retail price, so still very reasonable for a custom fit product that should be good for five years of use - your ear shape continues to change with age so it's recommended that you get them replaced (with new ear impressions taken) after four or five years as the fit won't be the same any more.
The price includes the moulding process. You buy and get a voucher. You then book at an authorised place and hand the voucher over. They do the impressions and send them off to ACS in Banbury. A couple of weeks later you get them in the post.
You need new impressions every 4 years as your ears will change. ACS will make new ones from the current impressions for that long but afterwards will not.
You can buy additional filters for the ACS ones so you can swap them at home for different environments.
Before doing the impressions make sure your ears are cleaned out of any wax. They'll send you home if they aren't.
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
I often only use the 10db ACS filters because my band isn't very loud but even that makes a huge difference - there's nothing worse than having ringing ears after standing too near a noisy drummer
At some point in my mid 20’s I noticed some loss in my top end hearing. I’d been gigging weekly since 16.
Started wearing some off the shelf plugs. Whilst not ideal, as they altered the sound significantly, I persevered.
Eventually going for a set of ACS moulded plugs a few years ago. These are a massive improvement over the off the shelf stuff.
I figured £150 spent on that rather than a new drive pedal (to add to the other 5 or 6 pedals in the cupboard) might be a good idea.
I am serious that I think it’s the best money I’ve spent on anything music related.
I even take them when I go and watch other gigs.
Yes, the attenuated sounds are slightly altered, but I’m 53, still gig weekly and still have reasonable hearing left, which I’m convinced wouldn’t be the case had I not used plugs.