And don't get me started on how loud shops are in North America. For whatever reason they seem to always keep the volume three or four levels above comfortable, making it much harder to have a conversation without shouting at least a little.
I think almost everyone operating a sound system is biased toward making it too loud. I’ve been to events for small children with painfully loud sound. There will be a DJ blasting 95-100 dB, never mind that (a) no one is on the dance floor because it’s too loud, (b) everyone is there to chat and do crafts anyway, not to listen to music, and (c) it’s actively dangerous to expose people to that volume.
I’ve also seen events where the DJ or band keeps edging the volume higher. It’s like they become desensitized to their own music and keep feeling like it needs to be 1 dB higher to sound right.
I believe that France actually regulates sound exposure. I bet that France’s maximum SPL plus a pair of good 10-15 dB earplugs would make for a great concert experience.
It’s nuts to me how loud public space music is by default these days (at least here in america.) We stereotype Californian cities like SF as being more health conscious, but even the Academy of Sciences puts their DJ every Thursday evening in a concrete and glass box with the volume cranked to instantly-dangerous levels. Like you I’ve been especially astounded by the cavalier attitude to audio safety at events targeted towards children, but imo even many bars and adult oriented venues are simply not being at all considerate of the immediate risks to their patrons from the music volume. Phonobar recently opened in SF as an “audiophile bar” and the listening room volume is usually so loud your hearing would almost instantly be damaged from stepping inside…so of course you aren’t hearing any “audiophile” quality sound even with earplugs.
At this point I just bring my earplugs everywhere, but everywhere I look around and I’m surrounded by people my age who are actively destroying their hearing and seem oblivious to it.
It seems like there should be a lot more public health education about hearing loss. That’s why it was especially disappointing to see CalAcademy not even have earplugs for sale when they operate as a music venue, along with the plainly unsafe (and poorly mixed, frankly) PA system volume.
I’ve also seen events where the DJ or band keeps edging the volume higher. It’s like they become desensitized to their own music and keep feeling like it needs to be 1 dB higher to sound right.
This is very much a thing and not limited to DJs or bands.
Some advice I got a long time ago (but can't find the source): if you've been listening to music for a while, turn the volume down to zero, and then slowly increase the volume back to where it sounds the same. You usually end up with an absolutely lower volume but it sounds exactly the same.
Also if you go to concerts and wear earplugs, your brain eventually recalibrates the sound so eventually it sounds just like normal volume.
Here’s a new one for me: At a swimming championship, some coaches had taken to quick sharp [fingers in mouth whistling] bursts on say a breaststroke when their heads come up, which then caught on with other punters. Sometimes I was reminded of the voovoozela World Cup. Anyway one guy was particularly bad and I clocked him at 105db from 20m, but he was doing it next to people. I feel sorry for them.
Most dj’s are children and you can’t leave them alone for a second even if you’re very clear about noise restrictions, even driving very clearly into digital distortion without noticing or caring. More loud more better. Brick wall compression and have them sending hot and don’t let them near the console.
Potentially a hidden killer is exposure over time. You might be under because your 88db concert only went a couple of hours but you drove there with loud music and you’re going some place after with loud music and drive home. So nothing specifically was too loud but you’ll still be over for the day. But try having that conversation :/ far as anyone’s concerned duty of care applies while you’re in the limits of one specific place.
Comments
I think almost everyone operating a sound system is biased toward making it too loud. I’ve been to events for small children with painfully loud sound. There will be a DJ blasting 95-100 dB, never mind that (a) no one is on the dance floor because it’s too loud, (b) everyone is there to chat and do crafts anyway, not to listen to music, and (c) it’s actively dangerous to expose people to that volume.
I’ve also seen events where the DJ or band keeps edging the volume higher. It’s like they become desensitized to their own music and keep feeling like it needs to be 1 dB higher to sound right.
I believe that France actually regulates sound exposure. I bet that France’s maximum SPL plus a pair of good 10-15 dB earplugs would make for a great concert experience.
It’s nuts to me how loud public space music is by default these days (at least here in america.) We stereotype Californian cities like SF as being more health conscious, but even the Academy of Sciences puts their DJ every Thursday evening in a concrete and glass box with the volume cranked to instantly-dangerous levels. Like you I’ve been especially astounded by the cavalier attitude to audio safety at events targeted towards children, but imo even many bars and adult oriented venues are simply not being at all considerate of the immediate risks to their patrons from the music volume. Phonobar recently opened in SF as an “audiophile bar” and the listening room volume is usually so loud your hearing would almost instantly be damaged from stepping inside…so of course you aren’t hearing any “audiophile” quality sound even with earplugs.
At this point I just bring my earplugs everywhere, but everywhere I look around and I’m surrounded by people my age who are actively destroying their hearing and seem oblivious to it.
It seems like there should be a lot more public health education about hearing loss. That’s why it was especially disappointing to see CalAcademy not even have earplugs for sale when they operate as a music venue, along with the plainly unsafe (and poorly mixed, frankly) PA system volume.
This is very much a thing and not limited to DJs or bands.
Some advice I got a long time ago (but can't find the source): if you've been listening to music for a while, turn the volume down to zero, and then slowly increase the volume back to where it sounds the same. You usually end up with an absolutely lower volume but it sounds exactly the same.
Also if you go to concerts and wear earplugs, your brain eventually recalibrates the sound so eventually it sounds just like normal volume.
Here’s a new one for me: At a swimming championship, some coaches had taken to quick sharp [fingers in mouth whistling] bursts on say a breaststroke when their heads come up, which then caught on with other punters. Sometimes I was reminded of the voovoozela World Cup. Anyway one guy was particularly bad and I clocked him at 105db from 20m, but he was doing it next to people. I feel sorry for them.
Most dj’s are children and you can’t leave them alone for a second even if you’re very clear about noise restrictions, even driving very clearly into digital distortion without noticing or caring. More loud more better. Brick wall compression and have them sending hot and don’t let them near the console.
Potentially a hidden killer is exposure over time. You might be under because your 88db concert only went a couple of hours but you drove there with loud music and you’re going some place after with loud music and drive home. So nothing specifically was too loud but you’ll still be over for the day. But try having that conversation :/ far as anyone’s concerned duty of care applies while you’re in the limits of one specific place.