Your Ears: Loud Is the Point, Damage Is Not

A live show is meant to be loud. That is part of what makes it feel like an event rather than a recording. It is also louder than most people realise, and the damage it can do is permanent. The fix is simple, cheap and does not spoil the music.

How loud a show gets

A normal conversation sits around 60 decibels. A busy street is somewhere near 80. A show commonly runs over 100 decibels near the front, and plenty of rooms go higher at the loudest moments.

The scale is not linear. Every increase of about 3 decibels roughly doubles the acoustic energy reaching your ear, so the difference between 85 and 100 is large, not slight. Your safe listening time shrinks quickly as the level climbs: at 85 decibels hours are tolerable, and at 100 it is a matter of minutes. A full evening above 100 is well past what your ears can absorb without a cost. If you want the mechanics, there is a longer piece on why loudness acts as a dose and another on reading the decibel scale.

Ringing is a warning

If your ears ring when you leave, or the world sounds muffled, you have been through a temporary shift in your hearing. It often fades within a day. It is still a signal that the hair cells inside the ear were overworked, and repeated episodes can leave a ringing that never goes away.

If the ringing is still there after a day or two, or you notice you are missing parts of conversation, see a doctor or a hearing specialist. Do not wait for it to pass on its own.

Earplugs that keep the music intact

The cheap foam plugs from a pharmacy work, but they muffle. They cut the high frequencies most, so voices go dull and the band sounds as if it is behind a door. Many people take them out after a song or two, which defeats the purpose.

The better choice is a high-fidelity earplug, sometimes sold as a musician's earplug. It uses a small filter that lowers the volume evenly across the range, so the music sounds like itself, only quieter. You can still follow the lyrics and hear the drums, and you can talk to the person next to you.

Points worth knowing:

• Many pairs are designed for roughly 15 to 25 decibels of reduction, which is plenty for a loud room.
• They are reusable, they come with a small case, and a pair costs less than a ticket to many shows.
• Fit matters. The plug should sit snugly in the canal. Pull your ear gently up and back as you insert it, then check that the sound has dropped.
• Wash them with mild soap and let them dry before storing.

Some venues sell basic foam plugs at the bar or give them away. If you forgot yours, take a pair rather than none.

Other ways to protect yourself

• Distance. Stay away from the stacks of speakers at each side of the stage. Level falls steadily as you move back.
• Breaks. Step out to a quieter space between sets and let your ears recover.
• The morning after. Give your ears a quiet day. Avoid headphones turned up high.
• Children. A young person's ears are more sensitive, and small ones need ear defenders sized for them.

You will not miss anything

People worry that earplugs will take the excitement out. In practice most people find they hear the music better, because the distortion that comes with extreme volume drops away, and they feel fresher at the end of the night. It is a good habit to build early: the damage adds up over years, and the people who still love going in their sixties are mostly the ones who started wearing them in their twenties.