[konut]

To no one in particular, the RS SPL meter is notoriously slow. When it reads 100db peaks, you're probably getting 110db transients. I'd like to have a system that would do 120db, but I can't afford it. I have to be satisfied with 110db transients for now. As long as its clean, I don't sweat hearing damage. Its the distortion that does the damage.

[Mariusz]

To no one in particular, the RS SPL meter is notoriously slow. When it reads 100db peaks, you're probably getting 110db transients. I'd like to have a system that would do 120db, but I can't afford it. I have to be satisfied with 110db transients for now. As long as its clean, I don't sweat hearing damage. Its the distortion that does the damage.

Absolutely agree with the distortion point.
70db or 110db ..... It always sounds the same.
85db does it for me .......anything above that, compromises my significant other comfort level. .......and we all know how distorted that horn can sound.

Mariusz

[mfsoa]

I just sat down w/ my RS digital meter, C weighted, slow response:
When I saw the occasional 90-91, I thought it was pretty loud, but still comfortable. Much louder and I would only want to do that for a few minutes at a time.

I needed 85 to get my monkey-bone shaking.

At 80 I'd call it pretty quiet -You could converse over this w/out much trouble.

How about ambient noise? My meter is pegged at "LO" at fast or slow response.

-Mike

[mfsoa]

Oh yeah - The distortion thing-

I could listen to 90 db from system for a long time but flee from the room in discomfort if someone is listening to music on a cell phone at almost any volume 

[markC]

Average listening- 75- 80 db nominal. A couple of drinks and a new mod - 85 - 90 db. Several drinks, a new mod, a new disk and the wife not home - priceless.

[orthobiz]

Ringing in my ears.
Going deaf slowly but surely but still loving music and stereo.

Hearing loss sucks. 100 and 110 is too loud.
Take the advice of a 53 year old: if I had it to do over again,
I would listen to music less loudly.

Paul

[stereocilia]

FWIW

I'm no audiologist,  but some of the levels reported so far = permanently damaging your hearing,  maybe anything above 85 db (?)

  At 57 and having worked in a 85db+ machine factory for 35 years, I'm not sweating things at this point in my life. Of course if I could do things over I would have worn ear protection at work and made up for things at home instead of burning the candle at both ends like I have. I would suggest tho if 85+db sound is a concern, stay the hell away from any live rock concert cuz you'll be hearing 110-120db levels there. My ears were ringing for 3 days after a Tom Petty concert back in the 80's. I guess I'd rather live and experience the sensation while I can instead of dying with perfect hearing and never have truely lived the music. My choice.

Cheers,
Robin

Actually, our friends at DOSH say you can be exposed to 90 db eight hours per day for a working career and not suffer permanent hearing damage. Beyond that, it's time weighted. For example, you can be exposed to 115 db for fifteen minutes, every day, with no ill effects. Or, 105 db for one hour per day. Or 100 db for two hours. Once again, every day for a working career.

A car's horn, when close by, is roughly 120 db. Even by DOSH standards you can listen to this for 7.5 minutes per day.

What does all of this mean? Rock on!!!  

As for whether you have damaged hearing or not; can you hear a pin drop? If so, you're doing fine.

Have fun,
Jerry

Sorry, what's DOSH?  Is that like OSHA?  For OSHA, the 90 dBA/8 hour = 100% exposure criteria actually allows for 25% of the workforce to acquire a hearing impairment.  Notice that "impairment" means it will affect your daily life, not just that your hearing is a little less sensitive.  NIOSH recommendations are stricter, saying that 85 dBA for 8 hours is the recommended exposure limit (REL), after that you divide time in half for every 3 dB increase (OSHA allows a 5 dB exchange rate).  Even if the stricter NIOSH recommendations are law, 8% of the workforce would still have a material impairment.

Here's a link for further reading
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/98-126/chap1.html
 
Personally, I think the dBC scale is more appropriate for measuring loud volumes, but the laws are referenced to dBA.  I wish I could remember the rationale for using dBA.  It made sense to me at one time.

Anyway, ears *are* pretty tough (some tougher than others), but permanent hearing loss from loud music is, well, permanent.  Hearing a pin drop?  That's not a real test.  Plenty of people can hear a pin drop (it might sound like a "tock" instead of a "ting"), but these same people may bluff their way through communicating or shut down altogether when the signal to noise ratio is less than ideal.

I listen fairly loud sometimes, so I hate to be a mom about it, but jeez, bring some earplugs (I like the Etymotic musician's plugs) to concerts, and use some common sense.

[JerryM]

Sorry, what's DOSH?  Is that like OSHA?  For OSHA, the 90 dBA/8 hour = 100% exposure criteria actually allows for 25% of the workforce to acquire a hearing impairment.  

DOSH is the Division of Occupational Safety and Health out here in California. 90 db per eight hour day, for a working career, is allowed.
What segment of the population has a hearing impairment from non-occupational exposures? Thus the 25% number.

Rock On! 

Jerry

[Tyson]

Loud is loud.  Go stand next to an undistored jet engine with no hearing protection, or fire off some 44 magnum rounds without hearing protection - you will go deaf quickly and there is zero distortion from these sources.

[Mariusz]

Hi freq...... are more bloody  then
Low freq.......

Mariusz

[rabpaul]

For me its 70-80dB
If you value your hearing, learn to listen at lower levels.
Prevention is better than cure aka a hearing aid.

[mjosef]

75-80 average for most of my listening sessions (=60%), occasionally I would be at 85-90 with peaks in the mid-upper 90's...and after 11pm I usually am at around 70 or below. Apt.Life.
I think my hearing is pretty good. At 150 I cannot id sounds over 16KHz. 

[stereocilia]

DOSH is the Division of Occupational Safety and Health out here in California. 90 db per eight hour day, for a working career, is allowed.
What segment of the population has a hearing impairment from non-occupational exposures? Thus the 25% number.

Rock On! 

Jerry

Ah, the other coast, no wonder I didn't know!     Do you know if there is a difference between the DOSH law and OSHA?  The 90 dB/ 8 hrs criteria applies to all industry in the US, AFAIK.  The mining industry has some criteria for hearing protection and record keeping which is a little different from OSHA, but I don't think it's more lax.

I think that the 25% is in addition to the average non-occupationally exposed population, isn't it?  It seems to me that the most at risk for hearing loss from overexposure are the people with really noisy factory jobs, closely followed by the firearms enthusiasts -- I've heard that the only firearm unlikely to instantly cause hearing damage is a .22 short -- hopefully I didn't violate the AC policy of not discussing guns.  Anyway, I would put rock musicians in third place and iPod addicts in after that, and audiophiles are somewhere behind them, probably trailing the car audio nuts.  That's my gut feeling about the rank order of risk from noise, but I can't quote any studies. 

I do encourage rocking, but please, rock responsibly.     

 

[Vinyl-Addict]

Interesting group of folks here all have hearing damage. Tinnitus isn't something you want to live with. 
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/melody/73/tinnitus.html

[konut]

Loud is loud.  Go stand next to an undistored jet engine with no hearing protection, or fire off some 44 magnum rounds without hearing protection - you will go deaf quickly and there is zero distortion from these sources.

I have yet to meet anyone who gets their jollies listening to those sources on a regular basis. I'm sure they exist though. A fairer comparison would be to test the hearing of a symphony orchestra conductor and compare that to the hearing of a rock guitar player.

[Niteshade]

High impact listening can be extremely fun and is my favorite mode of listening. It's thrilling to FEEL bass notes, have enough volume to hear background goings-ons, listen to a performance at a rational volume level to preserve what it's supposed to sound like. Volume is part of a system's tonality.  I typically don't go over 10 watts with 100db speakers, but the peaks are substantially higher than that. High impact isn't any good unless the sound is very,very clean, accurate AND engaging. BTW: High impact doesn't mean headache-level listening. The volume is up enough to fill a good size house to moderately high levels though.

[fsimms]

75 to 80 is what I listen to with vinyl.   With CD's I sometimes get a bit louder.

Bob

[Bob in St. Louis]

Given the same decibel level, say....95 dB;

Which is more harmful for an extended period of time:
- 20Hz
- 200Hz
- 5,000Hz
- 15,000Hz

Just thinking out loud that it's not so much the level, but the content having something to do with it as well.

Bob

[nathanm]

My guess is that all loud sounds regardless or pitch or distortion are equally harmful, but not equally as annoying in practice.  As frequency goes up, so does the pain it seems, although there are some especially onerous spikes in the middle, for me at least.  The chest-caving bass drum is not painful like the blasting trumpet w\mute or the clangy guitar overtone.  The incomparable, punishing crack of a close-range firework explosion (the coolest sound in all of "nature") is probably more hamful than the alarm clock, but the alarm clock is still pure evil.

Just remember, when in doubt: it's ALL bad for you, it will ALL make you die a horrible death, so it's best to just sit inside a room with lots of pillows and nerf balls and never leave the house!    

[Mack]

Normal listening levels 90-98db but sometimes on a Saturday when the house is empty I listen at 112db with peaks over 120db. Ouch