A Review of Whistle...

riverman · Post by **riverman** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:06 pm

Hello, this is a review of whistle...earplugs!!
Now, wait a minute--don't leave yet!! A wise person on this forum has this comment as his signature: "Wear earplugs when you play otherwise you'll end up with hearing loss or tinitis."
Well, I didn't listen, and while trying to master a tough tune, damaged my left ear with high As and Bs. That was a month ago and it still sometimes sounds like people are talking with tin in their mouths. And my Burke sounds like a cheapie! Don't let this happen to you!!
To avoid further damage, and to hear my Burke as the mellow baby that it is, I have been trying earplugs from hardware stores. Most were miserable, being too fat for my ear canals, or cutting off so much sound that I felt like I was listing to my own music behind a door!
But then I found Hocks Noise Brakers (no, I have no connection with this company) at the ear plug store. The address is: http://store.yahoo.com/earplugstore/honobr.html
They cost 17 bucks, but they let you hear the music and don't feel stuffy, because they have this tiny hole in the center and sound baffles inside.
I want to be able to hear in ten years AND play Irish music, so I carry them everywhere (like my whistle).
I thought I would pass this on to my whistling buddies.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:52 pm

Funny you should mention it - we just had a thread on this, thanks to the ever thoughtful advice from people on this Board, I just today received and used for the first time my HEAROS High Fidelity Ear Filters - a pure blessing. I too was beginning to find extended practice sessions increasingly uncomfortable. This was great and as advertised they did seem to provide flat attenuation. Simple yet remarkable and likely to save my ears. Thank you again, oh Lord High Counselors of the Board.

Philo

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:13 pm

I just get amazed by this. I have always thought sessions were a bit quiet and I'm itchin to bring a bombarde to one.

In all my days of playing very loud rock and roll the only thing that hurt my ears was when the PA went wild one night (just before the engineer got sacked) with feedback at 2k and about 130db.

Has anyone clocked the highest sound pressure level from a pennywhistle?

I have, however, learned to not practice in the bathroom, stairwells are good though.

Scott McCallister · Post by **Scott McCallister** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 3:11 pm

I'd be really surprised if a whistle (even a susato) is busting 95-98db. that's pretty freakin loud.

To be sure quieter than an amplified band at your typical bar setting.

I took a few of my whistles to show my band mates at a (swing band) gig once. We were all mic'd and amplified and during a break, I got out a copeland High D and Low D and tooted a few notes so they could hear them, and it was like they barely made a sound. As if they were embarassingly soft... copelands mind you! This was not because of temporary deafness due to loud noises either, we could all talk and be heard at a normal tone of voice.

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:51 pm

riverman wrote: They cost 17 bucks, but they let you hear the music and don't feel stuffy, because they have this tiny hole in the center and sound baffles inside.
I want to be able to hear in ten years AND play Irish music, so I carry them everywhere (like my whistle).

So how and how often do you wash them? At $17 a set, I imagine that you keep them for a while.

Michael31856 · Post by **Michael31856** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:11 pm

I'd be really surprised if a whistle (even a susato) is busting 95-98db. that's pretty freakin loud.

I think it's more a question of pressure than purely loudness. Fire a gun outdoors from reasonably close and it may make a loud crack. Do the same inside your car (ignoring damage!) and your ears will blow to ruin.

Remember, sound waves are air pressure, and air pressure increases within confined spaces.

Ears are delicate things.

lyrick · Post by **lyrick** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:17 pm

A while back someone used a db meter to check the loudness of their whistles, this is what they posted:

"Oak average volume 95.2 decibels max volume 99 decibels
Sweetone average 96.3 max 99
Doolin average 95.4 max 98.6
Hoover Whitecap average 95.6 max 98.6
Clare average 96.4 max 99.7
Susato Kildare standard bore average 102.7 max 108"

To me the surprising thing is how little difference there is between most of the whistles, until you get to the Susato.

I've got the Hearo earplugs and they work well. I found by accident, though, that just keeping my earbuds in that I use to listen to music on my mp3 player cuts the sound enough to make it bearable on those days when my ears are overly sensitive. Also, I can actually hear rolls and articulation more clearly when I have something in my ears, so some may find it a help in learning.

My guess is that if you're using something like this to cut the sound a little, then what you're hearing is more like what someone 10 feet away is hearing, since to the player the sound is usually about 6 inches from their own ear. 95 decibels that close may interfere with the ears' ability to hear some of the subtle sounds made by taps and rolls.