Jazzy M, DJ "Hi I'm Jazzy M. Make sure you practise safe decks...always wear protection."

Ash, RNID Campaigner "Hi, I'm Ash and I work for RNID. We are UK's largest charity working on behalf of deaf and hard of hearing people. One of our campaigns is called Don’t Lose The Music and we basically try to raise awareness among young people who enjoy listening to music. And our message is: If you love music, protect your ears now so you can listen to music for as long as possible.

When we listen to loud music it has quite an effect on our ears. If you can imagine deep inside our ears there are lots of tiny hair cells. When we listen to loud music, the sound waves come in and they are hitting our hair cells, and they are flattening or breaking. Sort of like when a tree is being blown in the wind or like my hair now."

Jazzy M, DJ "You listen to loud music for so long without protection and basically you become ‘disco deaf’.

It’s a term so many old DJs know and once you’ve gone past maybe 15-20 years of loud music you really do start to feel the effects. You definitely need to protect your hearing."

Ash, RNID Campaigner After a few hours these hair cells will bounce back up and your hearing will go back to normal. But if you go out night after night, year after year and these hair cells have been flattened again and again it is possible that one day these hair cells aren't going to spring up. If they break, they are broken. Once you have lost the hair cell it doesn’t grow back and there are no operations you can have to replace them.

Clubber “I mean I don’t have it personally, but when I am going to parties if the sound is not set up properly and I’m going out of the club I can feel that whistle out of my ears and it makes me feel really bad. Like I’m feeling dizzy.”

Clubber “It is when you get a constant ringing in your ears.”

Allister Whitehead, DJ "If you are a hard clubber and things start going wrong it has happened. People do get tinnitus and take it from me I know a lot of people who got it. It is the last thing you need in your life and you never get rid of it."

Ash, RNID Campaigner "The most common form of tinnitus seems to be a ringing sound in your ears or in your head, but there are lots of different types of tinnitus. It can sound like a buzzing sound, like a whooshing sound. It can even sound sound like there are hammers going off in your head."

Rob Roar, DJ "I’ve always been ok up until 2 years ago when I finished playing in a club, and for 3-4 days after I had ringing in my ears. You tend not to notice it until it is really quiet, like when you go to bed or turn off you TV. Then you hear tinnitus, like whistling. It is almost like an electrical sound you get from a TV. I’ve had it ever since, and I had to go to ear specialist on the Harley Street and have some special ear filters made up."

Ash, RNID Campaigner "Though loud music can cause damage to your ears, it doesn’t mean you have to stop listening to music. There are lots of things you can do to make sure you are protecting your ears. If you are in a loud venue make sure you stand away from the speakers, make sure you are taking regular breaks using the chill out areas, that’s what they are for. You can also wear earplugs designed to reduce the volume, but not the quality of the sound that is getting into your ears.
Most people assume that there are laws and regulations in place to protect your hearing. This in fact is not the case. Your hearing is your responsibility."

Clubber “I never wear earplugs because it takes away the whole effect of the music and the vibe away from it.”

Clubber “What is the point of coming to a rave like this and wearing ear plugs?”

Clubber “No, cause I need to hear the room when I am mixing.”

Ash, RNID Campaigner "Hearing loss can have profound effect on somebody’s life. It really can affect the way you about your business and your day-to-day life. Most earplugs that have been designed to look after your ears while listening to music are really small and most people don’t even notice when I’m wearing mine."

Rob Roar, DJ "What these filters do is they take out 15db of sound.  You wear them in the club 1 hour before you go in, you acclimatise with them and if the DJ is pushing the sound system over normal limits, you are going to be protected."

Clubber “To be honest, it probably would be a good idea to do”

Clubber “When I used to go to raves when I was younger I didn’t wear them at all. So now when I go out I put these in and it stops it for ringing for all week. You do hear the music with them. Try one!’

Clubber “Yeah!”

Clubber “That is why I wear them.”

Ash, RNID Campaigner "You can find lots more information and how to practise safe decks from our website www.dontlosethemusic.com."

Allister Whitehead, DJ "The question is do you want to keep your ears?. Do you want to be able to hear in 5 years time?"

- ENDS -