From: jj@alice.att.com (jj, curmudgeon and all-around grouch)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: What do you do when your kid things Metallica is cool?
Date: 19 Nov 92 16:57:29 GMT
Article-I.D.: alice.24245
Reply-To: jj@alice.UUCP (jj, curmudgeon and all-around grouch)
Organization: NJ State Home for Bewildered Terminals

In article <18NOV199211155488@eldyn.gsfc.nasa.gov> goldberg@eldyn.gsfc.nasa.gov (Patti Twigg) writes:
>OK, now I want to get on my soapbox. First of all, I am not against
(insert the sound of JJ climbing up next to you, and bringing
the megaphone, which I will need in order to get across to people
who listen to LOUD music, I don't care of what kind)
>any kind of music. That said, the problem I have is with very loud music.
>Very loud music does lead to hearing loss. This is a personal concern
>of mine, since I am deaf in one ear (not from loud music, though). You
>cannot imagine what a precious gift your hearing is until you lose it.
Hear, Hear!  I do work in psychoacoustics and hearing, as well
as in signal processing and psychoacoustic audio compression algorithms.

LOUD MUSIC does physical damage to the basilar membrane in your
cochlea.  Examination of people who've died from traumatic
causes (car crashes and the like) have shown that some
young people (high school and college age) have as much 
cochlear damage as very old folks who have had moderate 
noise exposure themselves.  In addition, it is also clear that
the degredation of hearing due to noise is proceeding much
faster in the last two generations, even in those who don't
attend rock concerts and other loud music events (like discos
and such), and astonishing fast in those who do.

As much as I like to go home some days after a standards
meeting and put on "Iron Man" as loud as my equipment will
handle (which is PDL), I tend to wear ear-protectors at
concerts. I've mixed entire concerts and shows with
ear protectors in place, much to my disgust, in order
to be able to tell if something is wrong (I've stopped
doing that sort of work, at this point I get sorta radical
about really loud sounds) with the equipment and in order
to preserve my own ears, which are a professional
asset that I can't afford to damange.

>If I am in a noisy restaurant, I frequently cannot hear what my
>tablemates are saying, even though my remaining ear is normal. My
That's a typical problem.  Have you tried using protectors of the
'yellow earplug' kind?  Depending on the kind of impairment
you have, you may find that this INCREASES your ability to make
out the conversatons around you. Yes, really.

>Good music is good at soft volumes
>too. OK, I will get off my soapbox now. 
>                                 Patti Twigg
Unfortunately, there are physical reactions to loud sounds that
can be interpreted as pleasant and/or arousing, due to the interaction
of skin and body cavity sensation and some of the afferent/efferent
systems in the body, so loud music is definitely different.
If you HAVE to listen to it, WEAR EARPLUGS.  They will NOT
ruin the music, in fact you'll be better able to hear it.

-- 
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