Kelvin Flores is Director of Instrumental Music at Arroyo Seco Junior High School in Santa Clarita, California. Flores has high-frequency hearing loss that he attributes to long-term exposure to high sound levels from drums, loud brass instruments like trumpets and shrill woodwinds like the piccolo. Concerned about his students’ hearing health, Flores contacted Alpine U.S. distributor American Music & Sound and arranged for parents to purchase Alpine’s MusicSafe Classic and MusicSafe Pro musicians’ ear plugs through Alpine dealer Westlake Pro of Universal City, California. Flores, who teaches beginning and advanced band and exploratory music classes in the school’s active music program, is happy to be able to protect his students hearing with a solution that he himself uses.
Alpine’s MusicSafe Classic and MusicSafe Pro offer two and three sets of exchangeable acoustic filters, respectively, for hearing protection that’s adaptable to the program material. And, unlike conventional foam ear plugs, Alpine’s ear plugs preserve excellent musical quality, allowing Flores’ students to hear and blend well with other musicians. Flores notes that the Alpine ear plugs fit his students’ different ear sizes well due to their double-flanged, tapered design. “The kids really like them because they’re comfortable to wear,” he says, “and they don’t have ringing in their ears after band practice.”
Flores also hosts “rock club” during breaks. “For rock club our students bring their own instruments,” he says, “and, with the Alpines, they can hear just fine but I don’t worry about hearing loss. It’s just like turning down the volume.”
