• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

What dB level can you be exposed to in a Nightclub and how dangerous is it for your hearing?

OP
DanielT

DanielT

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
4,801
Likes
4,727
Location
Sweden - Слава Україні
I dipped into the food court at a local mall recently. The next thing I was shocked at after how little food I got for the money was how loud the food court was. My Apple Watch confirmed my feelings. The music was being played at an average of 75 dB with peaks at 80 dB. I typically run my desktop speakers at 65 dB for casual listening!

One of the great things about my Apple Watch is that I have a decibel meter on my wrist that's within 2 dB of a calibrated noise meter. I even have the noise meter set up as a complication so that all I have to do to check the noise level is flick my wrist.

You can keep a pair of musician's earplugs on your key chain, like the Etymotic ER20XS, Loop or Eargasm earplugs if you're regularly going to loud places or have hearing sensitivity issues. Musician's earplugs will allow you to evenly reduce frequencies so that you can still talk to your friends for example while protecting your hearing. I've been using the Etymotics for ages, and I have a pair of ACS Pro 17 earplugs on order for even more accurate reproduction when I go to concerts.
There is a lot written and researched in the area of noise pollution and its effects. An example:
Screenshot_2023-03-12_072512.jpg


___
A bit of googling and this came up:
Screenshot_2023-03-12_072548.jpg
 

Digby

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
1,632
Likes
1,558
I dipped into the food court at a local mall recently. The next thing I was shocked at after how little food I got for the money was how loud the food court was. My Apple Watch confirmed my feelings. The music was being played at an average of 75 dB with peaks at 80 dB. I typically run my desktop speakers at 65 dB for casual listening!
My pet hate is trying to buy clothes that both fit and look nice (tedious and time consuming in itself) and being assaulted by music in the process. It makes it impossible to concentrate.

The concept of background music, emphasis on the background, seems entirely forgotten in the UK. In almost every shop, especially clothing shops, you are assaulted by music. Typically the trendier and more expensive the shop, the louder and more aggressive (electronic music) the assault.
 
OP
DanielT

DanielT

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
4,801
Likes
4,727
Location
Sweden - Слава Україні
My pet hate is trying to buy clothes that both fit and look nice (tedious and time consuming in itself) and being assaulted by music in the process. It makes it impossible to g.
Aha, I did not see: is, at the first reading.I thought your pet hated trying on clothes. You in the UK are sometimes seen as a bit eccentric so why not?:D

Isn't that a concept, a notion? The Eccentric Englishman that is:
(not seen as something negative but the opposite, if I understand it all correctly)
Screenshot_2023-03-12_124842.jpg

 
Last edited:

RayDunzl

Grand Contributor
Central Scrutinizer
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
13,246
Likes
17,159
Location
Riverview FL
During the year or so I ran a PA for 50's through early 80's dive bar group, I always wondered about the folks who would slide a table right in front of the speaker stacks and sit there all night.

Maybe they were already deaf.
 
OP
DanielT

DanielT

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
4,801
Likes
4,727
Location
Sweden - Слава Україні
Her voice was like sweet music to my ears said the newly in love man.
After a number of years, her voice was like.. brr....said the man in connection with the divorce.;)

This is a fascinating modern phenomenon, speaking of sound, or noise:
Screenshot_2023-04-14_100130.jpg


I am therefore right on time! My vintage receiver HK330C (which I use sometimes) has a humming sound from the transformer, sounds a bit like standing near a electrical substation. However with a much lower volume than that. The humming sound is nothing I hear when I play music and without music on the humming is barely audible, but what I hear I therefore have to see as a contemplative sound, noise. Heh heh.:)
 
Top Bottom