Subject: Re: [AUDITORY] How to speak to people about hearing loss and high sound From: "James W. Beauchamp" <jwbeauch@xxxxxxxx> Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 13:14:29 -0500 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>One of the events that the ASA has been regularly hosting at its biannual meetings is the Jam Session, which is very rock-oriented and sports very high sound levels. I can only handle about a half hour of it, but some people stay for the full three hours. Don't get me wrong -- I think the Jam Session is a great idea. It's a lot of fun and a great release from all the technical activity. But maybe some of the ASA P&P or Noise people on this list could pressure the ASA into supplying acoustically-tuned earplugs for the attendees? (BTW, I have tinnitus, which I probably picked up from attending too many electronic music concerts.) Jim James W. Beauchamp Professor Emeritus of Music and Electrical & Computer Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign email: jwbeauch@xxxxxxxx (also: jwbeauch@xxxxxxxx) phone: +1-217-344-3307 WWW: http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/beaucham Original message: >From: Christine Rankovic <rankovic@xxxxxxxx> >Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:04:49 -0400 >Organization: Articulation Inc >To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx >Comments: To: Etienne Gaudrain <e.p.c.gaudrain@xxxxxxxx> >Subject: Re: [AUDITORY] How to speak to people about hearing loss and high sound pressure levels > >Dear List: > >For rock concerts, bands will probably not turn down the sound level any >time soon because this is so much a part of the music culture, and lawsuits >haven't worked yet. Therefore, it may be worth considering providing >"acoustically-tuned" earplugs to each ticketholder at concert venues >(regular foam earplugs are unacceptable for concerts because they distort >the sound too much). The act of providing the earplugs sends a clear >message to concert goers and people like "freebies." It seems to me that >earplug distribution could best be accomplished by venue owners, but >hearing-preservation advocates could begin to pressure venues by >distributing earplugs outside the venue. > >I have used non-custom acoustically-tuned earplugs from Etymotic Research as >recently as last week's Jeff Beck concert here in Boston can attest that >they preserve the sound very well. > >Christine Rankovic, PhD >Articulation Inc. >Newton, MA