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TranceAddicts Hear it All: Official Resource for Hearing Information and Protection! (pg. 3)
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| Electrophile |
I never ever ever leave home without my ear plugs. I will turn around and go back home if I forget them (it has only happened once). I couldn't imagine going into a club without them. One thing that BLOWS MY MIND is when I see people under the influence of alcohol or a drug sitting against a speaker stack with the sound shooting right into their ears!!! That has got to be the worst thing you can do to your hearing!!! Sitting against a bass box displacing all that air destroys your hearing.
The first time I ever had ringing was after Coachella 2004. I was at the festival from noon to midnight, 12 full hours. The sound punished my ears all day. When I left the festival I had horrible ringing and a splitting headache...the ringing lasted for 2 days. I learned my lesson the first time.
I protect my ears at every possible moment. I never turn the radio up in my car, when I wear earphones or headphones I keep the volume at around 60%. I feel that most damage to a person's hearing is done outside of a club. Take my sister for example, she never goes out to clubs but she cranks her car stereo up almost to the max, she listens to her home stereo at near max volume, she has her ipod on max everytime she uses it...and these are things she does EVERY SINGLE DAY. Her hearing is BAD...she is in denial and doesn't want to accept it. She can't watch TV at a normal volume, she can't engage in a conversation with background noise, she can't hear the front door open or close...the list goes on and on.
Don't think that using earplugs at a club makes everything better. You have to be careful in your daily routine also! I am a gun enthusiast and love to shoot, but I also love my hearing. I wore cheap plugs a few times but I would still get ringing so I invested in some custom shooters plugs similar to musicians plugs but the shooters plugs cut all frequencies 35-37db. Be concious of your surroundings and turn things down a bit when YOU have the control to turn down the volume!!! |
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| in2muzikk |
Great points, I bought some Etymotic earphones for my iPod...
http://www.etymotic.com/
soooo much better than the crap headphones my iPod came with, plus they seal out background noise so you just hear the music instead of turning it up to drown out the external noise. Different styles to choose from, depending on the audio quality desired. Great at the gym, but I don't recommend them near traffic, etc. as you'll never hear what's coming at you!
Noise isolation (34-36 dB) far surpasses that of active noise-canceling earphones, and test results showed that most people listened at normal volumes using these type of earphones. They can also be used with custom Musician's Earplugs for a perfect fit. I showed them to my audiologist and she gave me a thumbs up!
Check elsewhere too, might find them at a lower price. ;) |
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| in2muzikk |
| Update: Four clubs now measured (see page 2). Avalon came in the loudest, with a permissible exposure time of less than 4 minutes before possible hearing damage without any hearing protection according to NIOSH/CDC! |
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| rizo |
Almost forgot to reply to this. I bought a Scosche SPL1000 digital decibel reader for $20 and took it to Ten15 recently -- I think it was the 16th of this month, discodave or lex400sc may remember since they took it around the main room too :p
Average was 116dbish and peak was 120db through out the night. It seems kind of low but I can't really say its wrong since your reader tops out at 105 and even the sound engineer, Marie, at 1015 said that Scosche was legit stuff.
I'll test Ruby Skye sometime within the next 2 weeks, not sure I want to bring it this Friday as I'm heading down for EDC right after :) |
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| refuge |
| quote: | Originally posted by rizo
this should be a sticky :) |
Exactly my words. :toothless |
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| cassa.de.x |
Good information.
Hate to sound like a party pooper, but I'm not sure there's ever going to be a solution to the problem of people losing hearing, based on some observations:
1. Many a DJ love to red-line sound levels, because in many a DJ's view, his/her music selection deserves the loudest output.
"The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and... "
2. People with puffy, pointy, or neon-colored plugs look funny. They do. Relatively few clubbers will sacrifice style for safety.
3. Lowering music levels at clubs is not a realistic expectation. Too many party people (and there are a lot of lushes, pill-poppers, k snorters, and snow bunnies), already accustomed to certain levels, would complain. One might say, "Gtfo with that safe sound level talk...are you kidding me? Can I feel Digweed coursing through my bones at 85dB? F it, bollocks...got any beans?"
4. Loud effin music is what the party's all about in the end, and making sure your ears are healthy is not a priority of the club owner.
Though I bag on ear protection, I myself wear the custom-molded ER-15s; they don't look quite as goofy. And I don't think it's a bad idea to spread awareness about the issue. Perhaps if we can make people more aware of what will happen to them a couple years down the road, we can usher in an era of safer clubbing.
I doubt party people will listen any time soon, though. They can't hear anything. |
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| rizo |
| got myself a new pair of er-20 hi-fis :D |
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| RobertStern |
Been looking at going the custom molded route.
EARMONITORS
Sensaphonics
These are what the pros are using. Now, I just need to save.. Looks like there is no way around about $500minimum for the real deal pro stuff. Upwards of $1000 if I was to get the same kind that say Justin Timberlake uses on stage. I got to say, might be one of the best investments I ever make.
Maybe a Christmas present. ;) |
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| JoNMiTz |
| quote: | Originally posted by DaveT
I hate articles that simply base hearing loss in pure decibel level. There's so much more than that. Tuning is SO crucial! It's why you can go into two different clubs where the music is entering your ear at the same decibel level but when you leave one club your ears are phone and in another your ears are ringing for a days. It's because of the tuning.
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This isnt true. The way most people will measure the pressure level with with an A-weighted curve, which takes into account how our ears hear different frequencies. A C-weighted or flat curve takes all frequencies with the same weight and then it would matter, especially in clubs. However, no normal person would read off a flat or a-weighted scale for a club environment unless they were trying to make it seem as if there was a higher sound pressure.
A-wighted curves give more weight to the higher end (which is what we perceive as being louder).
If you have anymore questions feel free to ask, I'm taking a course under a very esteemed audio engineer :) |
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| skwallie |
| sticky please! there's really great info here and it's good reminder to those who go to clubs every weekend without earplugs. |
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| JSmooth619 |
| this is really insightful, makes me want to buy some earplugs. |
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| skwallie |
| quote: | Originally posted by JSmooth619
this is really insightful, makes me want to buy some earplugs. |
That's for sure. It was nice leaving a club without any major ringing in my ears last night. |
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