Going to a Concert in May — What Precautions Should I Take?

I'm going to a concert on May 18 and am sitting kind of close to the front (not floor seats, though). What precautions could I take to protect my ears?

 

Better off staying home as this does risk your tinnitus worsening.

Otherwise, best protection would be foam earplugs, and better quality earmuffs.

 

You have a history of loud noise exposure that in all likelyhood caused your tinnitus.


https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...innitus-started-when-i-was-8-years-old.33484/


Why would you take that risk and make your tinnitus worse?

 

"If you're unlucky, all it takes is one loud concert to spark a lifetime of ear problems -- a constellation of symptoms that include not just hearing loss but also ringing in the ears, sound sensitivity, a feeling of aural fullness and even chronic ear pain."

https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20150803/entlife/150809940/

"Concert music levels can reach between 100 and 120 decibels loud. At a level of 110 decibels, hearing loss can occur after only two minutes of exposure."

https://www.everydayhearing.com/hearing-loss/articles/should-i-wear-earplugs-to-concerts/

Given how loud these events can get to, for those having issues with tinnitus/hyperacusis, I would not recommend to risk it. There are other variables such as inside vs outside venue, seating position, and some bands are known to be louder that can play into the potential for damage. It is hard to make a blanket statement, as this could be your child's band concert, and the risk may not be super high with good protection.

 

I would not risk that, I know how recklessness promoters can be with their events, while my DJ booths never had more than 75 dB, the stuff on the floor easily reached 100db.

The loudness war has crippled a lot of people over the years, you also notice that if you listen to music from today and compare it to the 90s. Many producers don't hear well anymore, so it all sounds terrible, overcompressed and loud.

My advice is to not go anywhere loud, I for sure will not risk anything this year, already cancelled my football schedule. But of course, my incident was noise induced, not sure if yours was as well.

 

I’m occasionally near percusive drilling and large turbo charged diesel equipment. My goto are 3M taper fit 2 ear plugs. They have to be fully inserted for protection, so practice before you need them.

 

If you do go don't sit near the front. Try and swap the tickets for somewhere in the middle or closer to the back and wear custom moulded ear plugs or foam ones.

 

To protect your ears, don't go to the concert.

Note, that many people go to concerts and are fine. However, some people end up regretting going to concerts for the rest of their lives, as they end up with a permanent T spike despite wearing hearing protection.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/joycecohen/noise-kills-when-everyday-sound-becomes-torture

Regarding a person who had committed suicide as a result of T and H:

For more testimonies, check out the posts I quoted in the first post on
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/

Also check out

 

I've been to a decent number of concerts since my tinnitus got bad, with no problems, always using at least foam plugs.

The thing is, with seated shows -- you have a lot less control. Shows are usually mixed to be 95-102db at the soundboard, so seats right at the soundboard would probably be too loud for me, if they went on more than a couple hours. This also means if you happen to be right in front of a speaker stack you'll get more noise (though in reasonable, well-mixed venues, the odds of volume peaks anywhere exceeding 110 are not that great, and you're definitely not dealing with sustained volumes in that range).

So, I like unseated shows because I can move around and find a spot where the volume & visibility are decent. You won't be able to do that at a seated show, but it could still be fine; if it were me, I'd probably go, use a meter to figure out average and peak volumes at my seat, and then bail if it was more "too loud" than "awesome, fun!"

Some shows can certainly be that loud, though 120 (even as peak spl) has to be on the rare side, and is going to be in violation of applicable regulations more or less everywhere.

My experiences at mid-sized venues around here (~600 person capacity) is that volume towards the back tends to be 80s average with peaks into the 90s, totally fine for me with plugs. Moving up to the center of the venue where the sound board is, the average tends to be more like low 90s with peaks into the high 90s, and the loudest I was able to get the meter to register by holding it right towards a speaker was about 104.

Whether "close to the front" is bad or not really depends on how the speaker setup is. Sometimes there's a wall of stacks in the air mid-way back, such that people who are 2/3rds of the way back get dosed a lot harder than people right up front. So, I hate seated shows because of the uncertainty, plus the uncertainty about whether the person in front of me is going to decide to smoke DMT constantly and keep falling backwards into us (yes, this is a real thing that happened, at a Shpongle show at Red Rocks, Colorado...)

Here was the setup for a Kurt Vile show we went to a couple months ago. From here we had a pretty good view, great bar access, and volumes under 90.

 

Best precaution? Not to read the advice here.

 

Wait for someone to film it with their phone. There is often decent video footage uploaded to YouTube. Else, listen to a recorded version which will eventually be released or surface.

It's a better option for all the reasons expressed previously.

 

Any justification for your advice above?

Or are you just hoping to use your Mind to Will your view of the world (that everything is safe and that we don't need to worry about anything) into existence (in spite of all of the evidence of your view of the world not coinciding with the real world)?

 

This guy does concerts all the time.

Sugar Ray singer Mark McGrath reveals he's losing his hearing https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sugar-ray-singer-mark-mcgrath-005609261.html

 

They're my favorite group and this may be their last tour, and I would want to see them at least once before they disband.

 

Thank you!

 

“Any justification for your advice above?”

“Or are you just hoping to use your Mind to Will your view of the world (that everything is safe and that we don't need to worry about anything) into existence (in spite of all of the evidence of your view of the world not coinciding with the real world)?”

Are you really asking me that? You know I go to shows all the time and continue to perform and record. Just balancing out your negativity on the topic is all.

 

@erik

Surely you’ll agree a lot of the initial advice isn’t helpful either. Scaring people into not having a social life. So yeah, I say ignore advice from people who don’t do it themselves. I’m not telling anyone what to do myself, just giving positive experiences , up to individuals to make up their own minds.

 

2hrs of fun vs. a lifetime of worsened T.

I don't want to be the Bad News Bear, but that is what's at stake.

If you go - earplugs, go outside or leave if it starts to hurt.

 

This is a strange one. At one hand you don't want to worsen you tinnitus. On the second hand you do not want to stop living and do things that you enjoy in life. Maybe people won't agree with me on this one, but I will say go to the concert with the best ear plugs you can get a hold off. Buy something that really is bullet proof and can protect your ear from noise trauma, and enjoy the concert.

If you notice that it is too much and too uncomfortable, then just leave. Don't limit yourself.

If it's possible, try moving further back from the speakers. Not being too close to the speakers and with protection, I can't see why your T would getting worse.