Legislation to Help Prevent Tinnitus (Legal Limits on Volume, Warning Signs, etc.)

Some background - I may have had some mild tinnitus in the past, but was never really fully aware of it. In December last year, I went to a movie theater and it was horrifically loud. After about 45 minutes, maybe one hour, I went out to my car to get some earplugs, but I didn't know at that point it was already too late. A few days later, I noticed an awful ringing, and it hasn't gone away still. I have a nearly unmaskable hissing, along with a whole bunch of other more typical tinnitus sounds. How could something as mundane as going to a movie end up being a life-changing experience?

I know there's a lot of focus on fundraising for treatment and therapy, but I think more work needs to be done to stop loud noise exposure in the first place. Why is a theater allowed to have sound so loud that it can permanently damage our hearing? Why are people allowed to be near huge speakers at clubs and theaters? Why are people allowed to create huge amounts of noise with modifications to vehicles?

At the very least, I believe there needs to be mandated warning signs and ear protection made available at venues like theaters, clubs, stadiums and so on. Warning signs should indicate expected decibel levels and maybe even indicate the consequences of noise exposure (hearing loss, tinnitus, etc) the way tobacco labels indicate they may cause cancer.

Ideally, there would also be legal limits on volume, particularly in enclosed areas like theaters and clubs. Why was a movie theater going over 100dB? It makes no sense.

I know this doesn't help us that are already suffering from tinnitus, but prevention is just as important imo.

 

As it relates to employees working at places where noise exposure may put them at risk, there is a laundry list of requirements that the employer must comply with; usually on an annual or random basis. There's also enforcement in place in many states in the US aimed to ensure employers continue to protect employees that work in such loud establishments, or where hearing may be put at risk.

When it comes to protecting the consumer; this is where legislation runs into issues of released liability and potentially the 14th Amendment.

The more prominent factor is released liability. When a consumer buys a ticket, pays entry, or sometimes even enters a said club, theater, sports arena, live music venue, or movie theater; they release their rights to hold the venue liable for any personal damages. So, they're effectively taking personal responsibility for the harm that they're knowingly exposing themselves to.

Turning over, revising, or severely altering a liability release as it relates to hearing loss at any of these venues would require substantial evidence, and monitoring of large groups of people over many many years. It would certainly be an issue that would need to go as high as the US Supreme Court, in my opinion, as a change in liability law would have ripple effects into any number of consumer industries.

What we DO have today that legislation might impact is the on-going effects of headphones/earbuds on hearing. The data seems to be much more significant than it was even 5 years ago. And, device makes may bear some liability for devices being able to be set to unsafe loudness levels when the user is unaware. I believe some EU legislation is or will address volume limits on some electronic devices.

 

In this me and you agree. There needs to be some legislation on noise levels. I wouldn't force the price of protection on the theaters or venues, but signage would be good, as would a limit they had to adhere to or get a fine.

I would say a bigger thing is phones and devices. They should be limited similar to the EU, where it's limited to 85dB of output. I would even have it go to lower, with 70dB as most people use earbuds which make it more like 80dB. There should be volume limiters in built into every phone OS, mandated as well. With them, after being given an adequate warning informing you that it WILL result in hearing damage if played at whatever max decibels it can produce with earbuds within however many seconds/minutes, then it would allow you to move above the safe limit.

 

EU legislation already exists for it, and they only enable it on EU devices as far as I know. The US needs to adopt the policy as well to really have teeth behind it.

 

Would a reminder before the show be too difficult to get passed? Imagine how much more receptive the crowd would be to protection if they were reminded by the band themselves.