Letting Go... Measurements and My Doggies

Hi guys,

As some of you may know, I got my tinnitus after watching a movie at home. Part of my anxiety was / is caused by thinking that I put my dogs through the same ordeal and they suffer too.

So to help me let go of this... I got around to measuring that movie from start to finish (wearing double ear protection when I set it up and then going to another room

I used Niosh app which is recommended for measuring workplaces and claims a 3db error margin on the latest iPhone mic.

Results from my seating position are:

LAeq : 66,4 (average per second A weighted)
Max level: 81,7 (highest SPL)
LCpeak: 110 (peak sound in C weighted)

This is (too) loud, but it seems not as mindblowingly loud as it has become in my anxious mind.

It did not even register as dangerous to healthy ears.

I suppose any cinema, concert or club can be louder. In comparison, the app freaked out a lot more over my high pressure cleaner which caused my spike, even with my crappy earplugs in.

So I think you guys are right and I can finally let go of thinking I brought this all unto myself in only this one reckless movie night.

But what about my doggies? Are they safe?

From what I could find, the dog’s ear works very similar to that of a human. They can hear higher frequencies, above 20kHz but that does not mean they hear everything twice as loud. My speakers have no output above 20kHz.

The vet even says dogs are a bit more resistant to loud noises than we. But let’s suppose that the dogs’ ears are equally sensitive as ours.

Keep in mind that they do not have my noise history of occasional powertools, concerts and headphones for hours on end.

Knowing that they only had one dose of this which lasted less than two hours, what are the odds that they have fully recovered by now?

Similar to a teen going to a club for the very first time?

I could live with that :-D