It is no secret that prolonged exposure to loud sound is highly damaging to our hearing. Listening to loud music is one of the common factors leading to degraded hearing ability and tinnitus, and is deeply unhealthy.
At the same time, such level of noise negatively impacts the quality of sound perception, which degrades the musical side of the musical performance.
In what seems to be the echoes of the so-called “loudness war”, bands still stick to the idea that “the louder you blast it - the better”. But it’s not true. There are many other ways to energize the crowd without causing them sound damage, and I’d love to see more of those, instead of them trying to be the loudest ever.
It’s even worse when you are in a closed space… I went this year to a concert unprepared (in closed space) without my earplugs and ouchhh, I thought I had lost some hearing due to the strong temporary ringing (I still have some doubts whether my hearing is ok). Same with clubs, I dont go often but I might start bringing my earplugs there too
When in doubt, visit ENT physician!
I did have prolonged ear ringing (over a week) after such a concert, went to ENT, and was told I was quite close to actually fucking my hearing up. Got some medical procedures and restored my normal hearing.
And yeah, earplugs are a must.
Yeah I should probably do a test some day. I’m visiting various doctors lately to fix vairous issues, I will probably go there too eventually.