In bars, music venues, and festivals music is often played too loud. The practice is a verifiable health risk. Should we ban loud jukeboxes, bands, and sound systems? “About a third of the people in the United States have hearing impairment by the time they're aged 60 to 75, often from exposure to repeated noise in the range of 90-to-140 decibels. Damage soon becomes permanent. Many wind up with tinnitus, a constant buzzing in the ears.” Clubs, bars and amplified music festivals all typically produce sound at danger levels. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=20427 Loud sounds, including music, can cause permanent hearing damage. There is no way to repair a hearing injury caused by loud music or other noise. Music in nightclubs, bars, lounges and at dances may be loud enough to damage your health. Tests in Alberta showed many workers in such businesses were overexposed to noise. In some cases, such noise was loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss within a few minutes. http://www.labour.gov.sk.ca/safety/bulletins/loud-music.htm Loud Noises Linked to Benign Tumor The higher the decibels, the greater the risk of acoustic neuroma, study finds E-mail this article Subscribe to news FRIDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDay News) -- People regularly exposed to loud noise over several years are about 1.5 times more likely to develop a benign tumor called an acoustic neuroma that causes hearing loss, new research found. The study by Ohio State University researchers included 146 people with acoustic neuroma and 564 people without the tumor. All were interviewed about their history of exposure to loud noise (at least 80 decibels -- the sound of city traffic) from machinery, power tools, construction, motors, music, screaming children, or at sports events or in restaurants and bars. The study participants were also asked about their use of hearing protection. People exposed to loud music were 2.5 times more likely to develop acoustic neuroma, while those exposed to machines, power tools and/or construction were 1.8 times more likely to develop the tumor. Exposure to motors increased risk by 1.3 times while regular exposure to screaming children, sports events and/or bars and restaurants increased the risk by 1.4 times, the researchers said. The number of years that a person was exposed to any kind of loud noise also influenced risk. Five years of regular exposure to loud noise was associated with a 1.5 times increased risk of acoustic neuroma, the researchers said. The study also found that the use of hearing protection offers significant protection against developing this kind of tumor. People who protected their hearing from loud noise had the same risk as people who weren't exposed to loud noise. And they were half as likely to develop acoustic neuroma as people who didn't use hearing protection when exposed to loud noise. The findings appear in the current online edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology and will appear in the Feb. 15 print issue of the journal. http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=530046
Loud music should not be banned, but if you are going to be exposed to it, please learn from my mistakes and use ear plugs. There are many kinds available today that will greatly reduce your chances of hearing impairment. I have tinnitus, and according to my ENT, I have lost nearly 20% of my hearing.
If people chose to listen to loud music fine. Should someone be forced to work in job where there is risk to their hearing without protection? NO. Do you have a problem with that.
I agree with this position. At the very least, earplugs should be provided to those who work in areas with loud music.
That is for outside complaints, not indoor noise level. And why regulate when you can ban it? The market is not adjusting for indoor noise level.
Since the market has not moved to provide workers in all of these places with ear plugs, are you in favor of a ban?
You can provide ear plugs for loud noise. Are you going to provide oxygen tanks for all employees and patrons that don't want to breathe smoke?
The market does not provide this protection. Therefore shouldn't we ban the practice? As for smoking I am in complete favor of most establishments being nonsmoking - that is what I describe as the optimal outcome.
How about ear plugs for those who work around loud music and gas masks for those who work in smoky bars.
Dang...it impairs your ability to read as well? I denounce loud music in all forms! Now excuse me while I go out to my car and blast some Rush on my 440 watt sound system.
Outside/indoor, who cares? If it's too loud outdoors it's probably dangerously loud indoors. Either way it is against many city ordinances. I do know that if you walked around with your own music and started blaring it at excessively loud levels (which is banned in most public places, at least implicitly) you'd get arrested. If you only listened to it where it wouldn't bother anybody else then you'd have no trouble. So if we could come up with the smoker's equivalent of headphones, say a cigarrete like a scuba tank with a helmet, I'd have no problem with people smoking in bars. Smoke away!
Heh...foggy memories. Back in college we rigged up an...er...attachment to the air intake on an army surplus gasmask Flip the switch, flick the lighter & hold on. Good times.
Sam, you're trying really hard to fit a square peg into a round hole. Indoor music is too loud. It is a health risk. The ordinances of which you speak do not target the decibel level inside bars etc (the health risk). They target the noise coming from a bar (a nuisance). Music can be too loud inside and not trigger a ticket from a neighbor complaining.
