Website owners see some of the Google search queries that send people to their websites. Sometimes, these queries are questions, so if I can, I’d like to answer them directly.
Question: “How do earplugs help people sing?”
In my experience and in the experience of other singers I’ve spoken with, they help for a few reasons:
- They change your perception of yourself enough that you’re forced to try something new. It’s very easy to become dependent on hearing your voice a specific way. Without that reinforcement, you may start pushing your voice unhealthily to recreate it. Think about the difference to your singing in vibrant rooms vs. acoustically dead rooms. But you never really hear yourself accurately in any room, so you should break this dependence.
- In my experience, ear plugs shift your perception to how you feel rather than how you sound, and the result can often be very positive.
- I believe they make it easier to hear the relative health of my folds. If my voice has been roughed up, I can hear that more clearly through my head with earplugs, and I can adjust more quickly.
- They protect your hearing. This shouldn’t be underestimated. Singers and instrumentalists are loud, and I presume you’d like to keep your ears healthy for the long haul.
You don’t even need to buy anything to try this out. Just sing your warmups with your hands on your ears and then buy some cheap earplugs to step up. You only need something nicer if you’re going to use them around other musicians.
Further reading: Singing with Earplugs
