Music or Noise

Hi everyone!

In my last post, I explained what noise pollution is and the various negative impacts it has on humans, wildlife and the environment. In today’s post, I will be talking more specifically about noise pollution caused by live music events such as concerts and music festivals.

As I’ve said previously, what is considered music to some may be considered noise to another. And as such, both concerts and music festivals are considered to be sources of noise pollution.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, “anything under 85 dB is of a safe range, and we should limit exposure to sounds over 100 dB to 15 mins”. This poses a problem to concert goers, especially rock concerts whose noise level averages at around 110 dB as seen in the diagram below:

According to a study on noise-induced hearing loss of attendees of rock concerts, concert attendees often complain of ringing sounds and that everything sounds ‘muffled’ after an event. This muffled sensation is more formally known as temporary threshold shift (TTS). If the hearing threshold does not restore completely, it becomes a permanent threshold shift (PTS) also known as noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). This noise-induced hearing loss is just one of the many negative impacts noise pollution from concerts can cause.

Looking at the impact one can have from the noise pollution of a single rock concert, imagine how much of an impact a long weekend of music festival music could have on you.

One possible way to mitigate the negative effects noise pollution from concerts and music festivals would be for concert goers to take precautionary measures to protect themselves from such harm. This can be done through the use of ear protection. That being said, most of these people are unaware of the consequences loud music can have on their health and therefore don’t feel the need to use such precautionary measures. According to an Article titled: Risks to Hearing from a Rock Concert, where they did a survey on 22 volunteers attending a rock concert and found that “Many of the respondents (would) be motivated to use ear protection if they were aware of the potential and permanent hearing loss (66%), or if such protection were advised by a medical professional (59%)”.

However, what I feel is even more concerning is that since music festivals are usually held outdoors on large empty plots of land surrounded by nature and wildlife, this unwanted noise from the performances will really take a toll on the wildlife and environment around. While most of the time people who are attending or are in close proximity to such concerts and music festivals choose to be there, the wildlife and nature around these areas have no choice in the matter. They are subjected to such a disturbance with no way of protecting themselves from the harm that it could possibly cause them.

Therefore, more has to be done to educate the general public on the negative effects noise pollution, more specifically noise pollution from live music events, can have on their health. Hopefully if they are more aware of how much harm such an event can cause them, they will be more willing to take precautionary measures to mitigate it. While some festivals and concerts have regulations put in place to minimise the noise level, it is not nearly enough. Thus, more regulations should be put in place to minimise the impact of noise pollution on the wildlife and environment surrounding these events as they have no means of protecting themselves.

References:

Bogoch, I. I., House, R. A., & Kudla, I. (2005). Perceptions about hearing protection and noise-induced hearing loss of attendees of rock concerts. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 96(1), 69-72.

What Noises Cause Hearing Loss? (2019, October 07). Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/what_noises_cause_hearing_loss.html

Yassi, A., Pollock, N., Tran, N., & Cheang, M. (1993). Risks to hearing from a rock concert. Canadian Family Physician, 39, 1045.