World Health Organization: "<hour listening per day"

[Dusty Chalk]

link

 

My attitude on "less than an hour a day of listening" (which seems to be the takeaway on Facebook, although it should be "...less than an hour a day of too loud listening...") is this:

 

[Craig Sawyers]

Doesn't surprise me.

 

I've always been a bit of a geek with that - when I was going to rock concerts in my mid teens, long hair, torn denim, and head banging (we're talking early '70s) I used to shove cotton wool in my ears.  Now I use high tech ear plugs which reduce the volume, and take down the damaging high frequencies more, but leave the stomach thumping bass coming through.

 

I have lost some high frequencies in my left ear, but that was a historic thing falling off my bike and fracturing my skull near my ear.

[crappyjones123]

Just measured my speakers with a decibel meter app on my phone. Most likely not even close to accurate but told me an average of 57dB with a peak of 70dB. Should be fine with that for more than an hour I don't get the point of listening to music at 110dB at a concert and ruining one's hearing for life. Really don't see the allure.  

[aardvark baguette]

Too much water will kill you.

 

 

rawk

[dsavitsk]

Just measured my speakers with a decibel meter app on my phone. Most likely not even close to accurate but told me an average of 57dB with a peak of 70dB. Should be fine with that for more than an hour I don't get the point of listening to music at 110dB at a concert and ruining one's hearing for life. Really don't see the allure.

 

Actually, many of the db meters on phones are amazingly accurate. Erika has one in her lab that cost well into 5 figures, and the one on her phone reads about the same.

 

In bad news, there is some new research showing brain damage occurs before measurable hearing damage. That is, damage from loud noise leaves people able to pass a hearing test just fine, but not actually process what they hear.

[Dusty Chalk]

WHAT?!?!?

 

No, seriously, what?  (wanders off to look up that research)

[shellylh]

^This!

[acidbasement]

I wish concerts weren't so loud. There's so much going on in the treble in metal music, and even "hi-fi" earplugs like Etys filter out more treble than bass, so you end up with a dull, mushy sound. Or, if you don't wear earplugs for a few minutes, you almost immediately get temporary hearing loss in the treble, so all you can hear are the double kick-drum patterns anyway, even during guitar solos.

 

I should go into the lucrative business of being a sound guy.

[dsavitsk]

WHAT?!?!?

 

I'll see if I can track some down.

[skullguise]

I'm thinking it's the otherwise-banned substances we consume when listening to concerts or sometimes music.

 

But seriously, that's a bit freaky.  I did my share of rock/punk shows but generally like lower volumes....

 

 

EDIT: whoa....World Cup attendees are fucked!  "120 dB - vuvuzela or sirens - nine seconds"

Edited March 2, 2015 by skullguise

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh, yeah, seriously, have you ever been around a vuvuzela?  It is the bane of hearing and sanity wherever it goes.

 

Yeah, Doug, that would be appreciated, if you know what to look for, I haven't had a chance yet.  Especially if you have insider knowledge.

[dsavitsk]

Especially if you have insider knowledge.

 

Insider knowledge fell asleep early, but I'll ask in the morning.

[eggil]

I went to an Armenian wedding recently and the music was insanely loud. Lots of fun but I had to keep my hand on my ears like a delicate damsel in order to keep my sanity.

[dsavitsk]

http://www.newswise.com/articles/noise-induced-hidden-hearing-loss-mechanism-discovered

 

http://m.jneurosci.org/content/29/45/14077.short

 

http://m.jneurosci.org/content/26/7/2115.short