It's gotten to the point that I just keep ear plugs on me at all times. Concerts, movie theaters, loud family gatherings, whatever. If shit's too crazy I pop them in. I only wish I started this before suffering permanent hearing loss. I can no longer experience silence.
this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2024
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I volunteer at a non-profit concert venue.
The reason I fell in love with it in the first place was that you could go to a rock concert there, stand right in front of the stage, and talk to the person next to you.
Now I know why: They enforce a hard 100dB limit, and the entire room is covered in sound-dampening foam.
Wow! That's great to know :)
What is the goal of the nonprofit, if I may ask? Just mass entertaining, or something more complex?
Providing a non-commercial space for cultural events to people of limited means.
Also, providing a stage for new artists that aren't already well-established.
A rock concert with 3 bands and a DJ will cost 5-7€ at the door, a beer costs 1,50€. But there's also art exhibits, poetry slams, sharing flea markets (take what you need, give what you can), movie nights and fire shows.
This is only possible because 15 members spend a lot of time maintaining it, and during an evening, up to 20 volunteers work the bar and the door, all without payment.
Honestly, I've never seen a place like this anywhere else, that's why I decided to join and invest a lot of my free time there.
There's an outdoor area, too:
Nice!
Sounds like a nice social space overall :)
I literally take earplugs with me wherever i go. They're in all my vehicles and all my bags.
Foam earplugs are cheap—there's no reason not to.
Fair enough!
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I wear the acoustic earplugs to concerts now, or at festivals stay far from the speakers. But I'm not sure. Maybe yes if the acoustics allowed for the sound to be more evenly distributed over the crowd.
Those earplugs made for concerts are great, they literally turn down the volume but the music sounds good not muted.
Interesting - I don't seem to have many specialized earplugs in here
It's the same at movie theaters. I wear earbuds not plugged in to a source just to reduce the sound level at a movie lately.
Also true. Seriously, we need quieter theaters as well. There's no need to bombard our ears!
I understand the point and have definitely thought similar BUT, I like being able to feel the low end which can't happen at low volume.
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Where are you, OP?
I'd say in the UK, venues and festivals seem to be pretty good at choosing an appropriate volume these days
Unfortunately I grew up before that was the case and I can pinpoint a few specific gigs at the Astoria in London and some silly nights out in Liverpool that kickstarted the tinnitus I have today
Russia. Here every venue feels its duty to turn up volume to the maximum possible amount.
Kinda envy of you now! But in a good way :D
MAWP
This happens with kids concerts too...
Damn, this should be illegal
Last concert I brought ear plugs for the first time and still heard the music perfectly fine. They were made for this exact purpose to be fair, but I'm never going without again. There seems to be a history of deafness in my family so might as well protect what's left of my hearing while I can. I felt a little self-conscious, but at least I wasn't the only one, so maybe the idea is becoming less controversial?
But still, I disagree with you (so going to up vote lol). I think I prefer they stay loud but we just encourage people to wear ear plugs. That way, when I sit as far back as I did this last time, it still feels like I'm right there in the middle of it.
I don't fully grasp why would one advocate for loud music AND earplugs. Wouldn't it make sense to just turn volume down? :D
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The counter argument is that you get to decide where you stand, close and damagingly loud, or safe and far away, or anywhere in between. Except for the last one I went to, in a tiny basement (max 15 people) blasting metal inches away from my face
Unless it's a huge open venue, it's normally loud everywhere, and there's no escape, in my experience
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Downvoted for popular opinion...
I totally agree... I went to a club once without earplugs and it was painful. Concerts, shows and clubs I bring earplugs and I don't miss a thing.
Allow me to piggyback on to this post:
If you ride a motorcycle, you should be wearing earplugs. It's not the engine noise, it's the wind noise, even inside a good helmet. Yes, you will still be able to use your helmet intercom/headset. I recommend the silicone ear plugs with the tiny hard plastic insert, both for comfort (because they sit very flush) and headset (I can hear my headset perfectly).
I'm not a motorcycle driver, but doesn't it lessen your situational awareness? Genuine question.
In my experience, you situational awareness is better, because all sounds are turned down, you can still hear everything, it's just not as loud. Most of these attenuate the frequencies where the wind noise is more than the rest, which also helps.
The main reason why I say your awareness is better though, is that you have less fatigue when you aren't constantly exposed to loud noise while riding, again in my experience.
The helmet you have also makes a huge difference, just like the bike. On a naked bike you'll have more wind noise, whereas on a touring bike with a large windscreen, it's mainly engine noise.
I second this. It's absolutely nerve wracking to have that wind blasting while riding. With ear plugs there's a feeling of calm combined with the joy of riding that can not be put into words. Damn I need to get another bike. I could use some of that in my life right now.
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If I stick my watch arm out the window while driving, my watch warns me that I'm in a loud environment that could damage my hearing.
To be fair your car is concentrating a lot of wind right outside the window so it will artificially read higher. Plus your ears are like 80 degrees away from the wind flow vs your watches mic that’s probably getting fucked by the wind. If you ever stick your head out the window ear facing forward that shits LOUD.
Even with my watch inside the car when I’m driving my little Miata with the top down my watch gives me the loud noise notification. Granted I do also have my speakers turned up pretty loud to hear anything over the wind.
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I know it's illegal to wear headphones with music while driving. Wonder if earplugs also?
It's different for motorcycles, since your head is in the wind.
As for wearing headphones while driving a car (in the US), it depends on the state, and most states have no prohibition on it.
https://www.vlaw.com/is-it-illegal-to-wear-headphones-while-driving/
Not a lot of information about earplugs, but I did find this:
https://www.thewisedrive.com/driving-with-earplugs/
I can definitely see where wearing earplugs while driving a car could be problematic, because you can roll the windows up, and I would expect that your ability to hear emergency vehicles would be hampered while wearing earplugs in a closed car.
On the other hand, hearing impaired people - including those who are wholly deaf - drive legally all the time, so I'm not entirely sure where earplugs would land.
In other news, in most states it is perfectly legal to drive naked as long as you're not exposing yourself to minors. This includes not wearing shoes.
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Yes, you will still be able to use your helmet intercom/headset.
Earplugs will actually significantly improve your experience. It's much easier to hear everything without the constant wind noise.
When I used "regular" foam earplugs, I could only really use the headset under 70MPH. With the "filtered" ones, I can use it at literally any speed.
I also bought a bag of 1000 solid silicone earplugs with string tethers, mainly to throw at my son and his musician friends playing hardcore in the basement, but also to keep some with me on the bike all the time and hand them out to anyone who needs them.
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It's even worse when you are in a closed space... I went this year to a concert unprepared (in closed space) without my earplugs and ouchhh, I thought I had lost some hearing due to the strong temporary ringing (I still have some doubts whether my hearing is ok). Same with clubs, I dont go often but I might start bringing my earplugs there too
When in doubt, visit ENT physician!
I did have prolonged ear ringing (over a week) after such a concert, went to ENT, and was told I was quite close to actually fucking my hearing up. Got some medical procedures and restored my normal hearing.
And yeah, earplugs are a must.
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Protect your hearing.
I did not and today, at the age of 54, I cannot hear above 13khz when I used to be able to hear above 20khz. Part of that is age, but most of it is from not using hearing protection at concerts and other activities where I should have been using it.
Any constant noise above 80db will damage your hearing. 80db is a LOT quieter than you think it is.
most of it is from not using hearing protection at concerts and other activities where I should have been using it.
You mean like firing a pistol in an elevator?
Doesn’t everyone do that to get a good start to their day? Shit sometimes I do it in the parking garage because the echo gives me double tinnitus.
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I absolutely do wear earplugs when going there. People find it weird, but we'll see who's gonna hear my laughter in a few years.
WHAT????
(as said by a 40 year old who spent his teens and 20s next to a giant 30 foot tall speaker every week at a concert club. And I mean RIGHT next to it. During crowded concerts I was literally smooshed against it. )
Ouch!
Could not agree more. I love the idea of live music but in practice it’s a miserable experience unless you’ve already suffered significant hearing loss.
Maybe someday people will stop putting up with this and I’ll be able to enjoy it but this idea seems a long way away.
I'd sooooo much love to go to concerts more once they are quieter!
This would make it so so much of a better experience
I'm a music producer and there is/was a "Loudness War" and several people say loud won. To clarify: for your tracks to qualify when uploading them to Spotify I believe they have to be a minimum of -10 LUFS. I'm not going to pretend that I know what a LUFS is fully, but I have software to tell me where my LUFS is at. If you don't hit at least -10 LUFS they will fake it for you, with usually terrible results.
So now all producers are mixing to -10 LUFS and higher (-8 or -9), all for the sake of possibly getting radio play in the future, although not all music sounds good when mixed so damn loudly. I know this is tangentially related but
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is interesting! I've heard Spotify normalizes loudness, but didn't know they go to terrible ranges just to sound louder.