loud noises

hey everyone, i just have a question regarding loud noises and kittens.
I just got two kittens (about 2 months old) that lived in an apartment with 3 big guys, so there was alot of running down hardwood floors, etc. They get a bit frightened if you walk by too quick or if i come flyign down the steps in the morning.

Now, I'm also a drummer.
My old cat used to high-tail it outta my room like a "cat" out of hell the second i tapped a cymbal or drum. But she'd be fine downstairs.

the thing is, i'm scared to freak the kittens out.
I played it for a few minutes the other day, came downstairs and found them both hiding in this little cramped spot.
I wasnt sure if they were hiding from the noise, so when my friend dropped by the other day, i asked her to watch the kittens behavior as i played a quick song. she said the cat got pretty freaked about the sound and hid under the couch and the other went under the coffee table. I dont want to traumatize them or anything, but my old cat used to deal with it fine as long as she wasnt IN the room.

so i guess my question is whether the drumming could damage their hearing or just make them scared?

Any experience with this or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Well, I don't have any personal experience with drum-playing with cats, but I do have an idea...

Is it possible you could at least semi-soundproof the room you play in? I think that would help a lot. If you're in an apartment, I'm sure you could find SOMETHING you could do that you could remove later.

Does that sound like a possible solution?

Well, i live in a house and my drums are upstairs.
Even with sound proofing, the THUMP of the bass drum does sorta make it sound like someones pounding on the ceiling.

I would think that once they have really settled they will cope fine. My son-in-law plays the Saxaphone and their kittens didn't take any notice after a while.

I think they will adjust. As long as they act secure most of the time, it is ok to hide while you drum.

Since you are being so careful of them, I think the adjustment will come in time. Can you play softly, with them in the room? Just a light snare or something?

I had a semi-feral once, who was spooked by all noise. I think she just learned that while we were gone all day, she felt safe, and when the people came home and started making noise, it was scary. One thing that helped was to leave the TV on all day, so she was more accustomed to noise. Maybe you can leave a TV or radio on when you are gone, so the change isn't from silence to loud noise, but from soft or moderate noise to loud.

I have a friend who had a band, and they practiced in his basement. Their (human) babies would be in the room when they practiced sometimes, and they never cried. They just went to sleep when the Daddies started jamming! So I don't think loud music is bad for babies!!

I don't think the drumming will damage their hearing. But if you want to continue playing the drums, you'll have to get them used to it. And the way to do that is SLOOOOOOOOOOWLY. They need to find out for themselves that the noise doesn't hurt them. Start out very softly and for a very short period of time and gradually increase as you notice that they're not afraid anymore.

thanks for the replies, everyone!
I'm going to try to "condition" them to the noise so they dont have so sit through a half hour session of practice right away, but eventually can get used to it.