Are you looking forward to live music performances coming to Lancaster County this summer? Or are you traveling out of the area to see your favorite musician or band? Do you enjoy listening to the banter in between songs from the singers?
Whether you’re a hearing aid user or not, prepare for your upcoming concert. Sometimes it can be challenging to hear at a comfortable and safe level. Most people with hearing loss face challenges with hearing higher frequencies. Therefore, some music or vocal ranges are difficult to hear. On the other hand, some live shows, like rock concerts, can be dangerously loud for people of any hearing range. Being part of the audience at a rock concert can create risks for everyone who doesn’t take precautions beforehand. According to the National Institutes of Health, 1 in 3 people between 65-74 and half of people older than 75 experience hearing loss. Standing too close to speakers can lead to hearing loss in minutes. Exposure to noise that reaches over 70 decibels (dB) for a prolonged period can harm your hearing. Noise over 120 dB can instantly damage your ability to hear. Tinnitus and hearing loss are common occurrences after attending a loud live concert. Sometimes it’s temporary, or it can last longer. Seek help immediately if you experience either of these symptoms. Before Leaving to Attend a Concert The JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery published a study in 2016 based on 51 concert attendees. They concluded that just 8 percent of concert-goers who donned earplugs with a noise reduction rate of 18 dB experienced noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) compared to 42 percent of those who did not wear earplugs. Just 12 percent of earplug users experienced tinnitus compared to 40 percent of nonusers after a 4 ½ hour concert. If you are ready to attend a concert, you’re in luck. Pure Sound Hearing has simple foam earplugs available in our offices. Selecting the Safest Seats or Standing Area for Your Hearing It doesn’t sound fun, but being further away from speakers or the stage would be safer. Staying about 500 feet away from anything that emits loud noise is safest. Giant speakers are usually on the stage, but sometimes they can be located in other spaces in the venue. You can contact the concert organizers to figure out which area is safest for you. Venues located outside can be safer because the sound doesn’t get trapped inside a confined space, as it does with an indoor venue. If Necessary, Take a Break Sometimes, if the sounds are overwhelming, temporarily move yourself to a quiet space - maybe you need to go outside the venue. You can rest your ears for as long as you need, which could help prevent hearing damage. Use a sound meter app to measure the noise levels in your environment. For Hearing Aid Users If you have hearing loss and use hearing aids, you probably want the best possible experience at a concert. In some cases, hearing aids might lead to a not-so-great listening experience. The devices have been designed with speech as the primary listening experience instead of music. Music has more ranges of frequencies than speech sounds that are difficult to reproduce with hearing aids. With newer hearing aid features, there can be a problem with how music is perceived. Feedback suppression or blocking out background noises may inadvertently suppress sounds from other instruments, so you’d miss out on a full experience. Talk to your hearing instrument specialist, who will demonstrate how to adjust your hearing aids’ volume setting while experiencing a live concert. You can also ask how to stop other features, like feedback suppression or noise reduction. Your hearing aids are programmable by your hearing instrument specialist with a “music setting” feature that automatically switches to this feature. Before traveling to your concert venue, find out if it has a hearing loop system. This sound system is available in most public spaces that connect to people’s hearing aids or assistive listening devices. If you experience hearing loss and need hearing aids, schedule an appointment with Pure Sound Hearing for a hearing test and consultation with one of our hearing aid providers in Elizabethtown, Lititz, or Strasburg. Comments are closed.
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