We followed the crowd of concertgoers towards the stadium. It is our first music concert in an open-air venue. How will that affect the acoustics? We had no idea, but we had come prepared with hearing protection. No concert is worth damaging your hearing.
As we walked the perimeter, we could hear the opening act in the distance. The volume level was reasonable, but as we rounded the corner to our seats: Bang! We took a step back as if we had been physically hit and hid behind a wall to put on our headphones. They stayed comfortable, secure, and comfortable in place throughout the event.
Concerts require hearing protection
We danced, sang the songs we knew, and “talked” to each other through a messaging app on our phones, all with headphones firmly in place. I like to turn on the noise cancellation feature to reduce background noise. It helps me hear the lyrics better, although in reality, my brain is probably filling in most of what I’m experiencing, especially if it’s a familiar song.
During the concert, my Apple Watch’s decibel reader consistently showed noise in the 90 to 95 decibel range. This is loud, but at the lower end of the 94 to 100 decibel range for concerts posted on It’s a noisy planetThe website of. Maybe because it was an outdoor location? According to It’s a Noisy Planet’s free and informative program “How Loud is Too Loud?” marker15 minutes at 100 decibels is enough to damage hearing. There is no reason to take the risk.
No one else we saw was wearing any type of hearing protection! My ears hurt just thinking about it.
How to protect your hearing at a concert
If you go to a concert, whether you have hearing loss or not, protect your hearing. Loud noise damages the delicate hair cells in the inner ear that help us hear. And once they are damaged, there is currently no way to repair them. Hearing loss from noise exposure is permanent.
But it can be prevented in three ways:
- decrease the volume
- Get away from the noise
- Use hearing protection such as earplugs or ear muffs.
At a concert you don’t usually have option 1 or 2, but you can protect yourself with earplugs or earmuffs. I use Bose noise-cancelling headphones because they fit perfectly in my ears and don’t create any feedback with my in-ear devices. But they may not work for everyone.
This article from Solidly provides alternative suggestions. Hearing trackerThe article on the subject is also useful. Or ask your audiologist for options that work for your particular situation and devices.
Readers, how do you protect your hearing at live concerts?
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