Hearing loss and loud musical instruments often go hand in hand, especially if you've been a musician for a long time. Electric guitar players produce such high volumes with their instruments and amplifiers that hearing issues can definitely arise. Regardless of your age, if you're noticing hearing difficulties that you suspect are linked with your instrument, you'll want to take a break and consult a hearing specialist, like those at Waters ENT Sinus & Allergy. There's a strong probability that he or she will recommend that you start to wear hearing aids — and, of course, turn your amplifier down. Here are some ways that hearing aids can help you as a guitar player.

Blockage of Tinnitus Sounds

Many guitar players end up suffering from some form of tinnitus, which can affect their ability to hear and play their instrument. With this condition, you may hear buzzing, hissing, or other sounds in your ears, and this can make it difficult for you concentrate while you play. For example, if you hear these noises while you're listening to the specific notes that you're playing, the former may drown out the latter. Hearing aids can help to reduce the tinnitus sounds while augmenting the other sounds around you.

Prevention Of Further Damage

Losing your hearing because of playing guitar, while continuing to play the instrument, can be a bit of a double-edged sword. Because of your diminished hearing capacity, you'll need to turn up the instrument louder so that you can hear it — and this can cause your hearing to decline even faster. Hearing aids allow you to hear better so that you can play your instrument and hear it at a lower level. This can prevent the additional damage that you'd experience from playing at a loud volume just to hear it.

Ability To Hear Truer Sounds

One of the challenges of hearing loss is that you can hear sounds that aren't authentic. For example, what you might hear from your instrument isn't what those with healthier hearing might hear. If you're performing, you may think that your guitar sounds a certain way and make the necessary adjustments to your notes — without realizing that it was sounding fine to begin with, but you were hearing something different because of your hearing situation. Hearing aids will allow you to hear yourself play more accurately, which can make you a better performer and also help you to enjoy the activity more.

If you're a musician and you think you can benefit from hearing aids, schedule a consultation with your local hearing professional.