B.E. Taylor has been making music and performing professionally for more than 30 years. He's primarily a vocalist, working with an audience in front of him and a band behind him.

Though music is generally perceived as joyful noise, even symphony orchestras produce sounds that are well over the decibel levels that can cause permanent hearing loss.

Performers are at greater risk than their audiences, because singers and musicians are closer to the source of the noise and are close to it day in and day out.

Taylor, 53, said his wife, Veronica, had been gently hinting that perhaps he should have his hearing tested. She thought he might be in the early stages of hearing loss.

"I didn't notice anything. I thought I was doing OK," he said in a recent telephone interview.

But then he got an e-mail from a woman who had been to a number of his concerts.

"She said she noticed that I put one finger in my ear for some songs."

Deborah J. Albaugh knew why he was doing that. She knew he was trying to block out some of the noise from his audience and his band so that he could hear his own voice. She told him there are better ways to accomplish that.

She said ear filters could lower the volume.

She said high-tech ear monitors could do three things -- lower the volume, be adjusted so that he could hear the entire band or just the instruments that he wanted to hear, and, most important, protect against hearing loss.

Albaugh said the monitors are "hearing conservation" devices. She knows about hearing loss. She's an audiologist who sells hearing aids, as well as filters and monitors that prevent hearing loss, at her Mt. Lebanon shop, HearBest, 658 Washington Road.

Taylor said he resisted Albaugh's overtures for at least two years, "but we e-mailed back and forth."

A native of Aliquippa, Taylor lives in Wheeling, W.Va. In the 1980s, he and his band did three albums with major record labels and had two mainstream hits -- "Vitamin L" and "Karen." They also had a video that played on MTV.

"We almost made the big time, but when that didn't happen, I regrouped," he said.

Taylor and his band still play around the region, including the Heinz Hall concert to benefit victims of the September floods. They played on stage with Bruce Springsteen, who, Taylor said, "was so genuinely nice, both on stage and backstage. It was a real thrill to play with him."

About 10 years ago, Taylor added Christmas concerts to his repertoire "and that has taken on a life of its own. This year, we did 15 Christmas shows, from Chicago to Winston-Salem," including two sold-out concerts at Heinz Hall.

"I really enjoy what I do, playing music all these years. I've supported my wife and two children, and I was around to coach my kids' softball games. I've had it all," Taylor said.

Because he hopes to be performing for many years to come, Taylor wanted to make sure he didn't do any further damage to his hearing.

But still he feared that any filter or monitor put into his ear would work as a plug "and make me lose something."

He went to Albaugh's shop last summer to have his hearing tested. As his wife had feared, there is some hearing loss.

"Certain high frequencies are gone," Taylor said, but neither his lifestyle nor his performances are affected.

He got custom-fitted, top-of-the-line monitors. Taylor said he'd never go back to performing without them. He's also noticed an unanticipated benefit.

"I think they are helping and preserving my voice. When I used to talk to my audience, I would have to virtually scream to hear myself above the band" and the cheers of the audience. "Now I don't have to strain my voice."

Albaugh notes that she saw monitors in the ears of singers Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson during their televised Christmas special, and worn by American Idol Clay Aiken during his special.

Sales literature distributed by Westone Music Products, the company that makes the monitors sold at HearBest, lists more than 60 bands and solo artists who use their products.

From Bryan Adams to ZZ Top, the list covers a wide swath of musical genres, including the E Street Band, Goo Goo Dolls, Faith Hill, No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Santana, John Tesh and Randy Travis.

"Forty percent of musicians over the age of 50 may have some hearing loss," Albaugh said. "It may be twice as high as the general population."

Prices range from $69 to $689.

Then there is a little noise reduction device called the ER12. Those are basic ear plugs that cost $10.

Albaugh uses them herself when she goes to loud concerts. She says they lower the volume without lowering the quality of the music.

Taylor has recommended the monitors to musicians and he sent his son, B.C. Taylor, 19, to HearBest. B.C. is a drummer, and his family was relieved to learn that he has not lost any of his hearing. He's now drumming with filters in his ears and may switch to monitors at some point.

"I've only been working with musicians for about a year," Albaugh said, but her musician client list is growing because of her Internet site and word of mouth. "Next, I'm thinking about reaching out to marching bands, All those horns and brass. They're really loud."

Clem Rolin, director of bands at Robert Morris University and the retired director of South Fayette's Little Green Marching Machine, said, "Monitors and filters will be an absolute boon for the industry and to the health of musicians. I've been in the business for 35 years and I'm sure I have some hearing loss" though he has not had his hearing tested.

Band directors and music teachers are exposed to more noise over a longer period of time than the musicians in the band, he said.

"I taught junior high for 15 years and had seven classes per day. Music is often taught in classrooms" that are not exactly acoustically kind to the ears.

"Marching bands sometimes play in gyms and other arenas not designed for music," Rolin said.

Rolin is a musician himself, playing valve trombone, mostly in jazz groups.

The word of mouth in musical circles, he said, is that monitors will actually enhance your performance.