As a sound designer, your ears are obviously incredibly important. So what if you start losing your hearing?

I am very careful not to damage my ears. I always keep ear plugs with me and I’m not shy to wear them even if it means having big orange foam things sticking out of my ears. Damaging my ears is a huge worry because, apart from the obvious, I have invested so much time, dedication, money and love into sound.

Every now and then I get a checkup to see whether my hearing is intact or not. I went yesterday, and it is indeed 99.236% fine. This got me thinking though, how would a sound designer be perceived in the industry if he wore a hearing aid?

I asked the specialist testing me how accurate hearing aids are. He said they are calibrated to boost the frequencies one is missing and do so pretty well. But even with today’s technology, hearing aids are not 100% accurate, but still pretty close. He said that considering the speed at which this technology has progressed, it won’t be long before they will be extremely accurate.

I can only assume there would be a huge stigma associated to wearing hearing aids as a sound designer and one would probably not get much work. But how is it different to wearing glasses? Graphic designers can wear glasses without judgment, so why can’t sound designers wear hearing aids? Why wouldn’t you give your ears a little push if it means you can do your job better?

All that said, hopefully my hearing won’t go below 96.738%.

Be safe. Wear protection!