Key Studio Skills – Hearing & Listening – Tuesday VO Tech Tip

I’ve been talking a lot about Loudness recently and wanted to make it clear that I’m not encouraging people to listen “loudly” to their audio. Listening volume has nothing to do with the delivery “Loudness” of our audio to a client or audition. It seems as though most people understand that, but I just wanted to be explicit. 

“Acceptable” sound exposure

If something plays too loudly, we naturally turn down the volume to protect our hearing. That’s a good thing. What we may not realize is that the amount of audio we listen to can also impact our hearing over time. You can think about audio in terms of “dose” levels – the louder the source, the shorter the acceptable listening period. You may have encountered hearing safety charts which cite an 8 hour exposure to sound at 85 decibels as a maximum dose.

That “acceptable” exposure time reduces with minimal increases in volume. The decibel scale is logarithmic, so increasing playback volume by only 3 decibels could halve the amount of allowable exposure time. Delivering final project audio often causes us to engage in extended editing or QC sessions. Those sessions may be putting more load on your hearing than you might be aware of. If you want to dig a little deeper, this PTE interview with Stephen Wheatley is a good place to start. 

Rest your ears

As much as I love podcasts and audiobooks, I also try to make sure that I give my ears a significant break. With the recent heat levels, we’ve had fans going much of the day, and the simple act of turning them off gave palpable relief. Just being aware of resting your hearing is a good first step. Of course, getting a hearing test is a good plan as well.

Reset your perception

Giving your ears a break can also help in the creative process. As we push auditions out the door against deadline, it’s easy to lose perspective. Standing in front of the microphone with our headphones on, we often try to play the role of both the talent and the director. It’s exceptionally difficult (I’ll argue “impossible) to listen and speak at the same time. 

Taking a moment to step away from the playback area can be enlightening. A quick break can reset us here as well. We spend so much time talking to ourselves that a quick interaction with another actual person (or even our pups!) can bring things back to the real world. It can remind us just what that elusive “conversational read” actually sounds like. Returning to the recordings with our perception reset, our approach will likely be much more grounded. 

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