I think we'd all like to have a shop like this near us

[Feltwell]

You should start a counter-movement, Moo, and equip your car to blast our classical music. I think the idea of some high-volume Bach organ music would be a refreshing change.

:lol: Toccata and Fugue at full volume. Perhaps some Wagner? Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet - the start of Dance of the Knights?

 

[robgil]

Loud music in bars, if you cannot have/hear a conversation you drink more, same as no seating in bars , if you have to stand you have to hold a drink , this means you drink it faster.

 

[Moo]

"- and because the social life of young people these days takes place surrounded by a wall of sound, they can never actually have proper conversations ... so they don't get to know one another ... so their relationships are built on very shaky foundations, so ..."

Discuss, using one side of the paper.

 

[Moo]

Many professional musicians use earplugs because they are frequently exposed to loud music, unlike the audiences, much like workmen digging up the road would wear ear protection whereas pedestrians walking past them need not bother. Also, the "earplugs" worn by many professional musicians are actually in-ear monitors.

I've asked the oracle (aka known as son) and he confirms that musicians often use 'in-ears' when performing in large arenas, like O2, especially when the band/orchestra is a big one. Ear plugs are used to protect their ears on other occasions (it's a case of caveat emptier for the punters who seem to enjoy coming out with their ears ringing after three or so hours), but the 'in-ears' are ear-protectors as well as performance aids.

 

[AMc]

A long time ago I was told by a sound engineer that ringing ears after a concert was a result of a badly driven sound system. Distortion caused by over driving the amps which 'squares' the peaks from the sound waves stresses the ear more than clean sine waves at greater amplitude - I have no other source to back this up but I've been to very loud gigs in small and large venues and had no ill effects while comparable concerts have resulted in ringing ears for a few hours.
As I'm now officially too old I don't find myself in those situations often enough to worry unduly but if you work in those environments it makes sense to take precautions.

Professional musicians and DJs are commonly tinnitus sufferers with permanent ringing in the ears. My favourite DJ Eddie Temple Morris is trying to raise awareness and get those most likely to be affected to take precautions - notably fitted ear plugs.

It's Tinnitus awareness week...
http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/tinnitus-awareness-week-2
Prevention
http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/prevention


As a side note I'm using a belt sander a lot at the moment which is very, very loud - I have previously used the disposable yellow ear plugs which are effective but get dirty very fast if you need to take them in and out with dusty hands . I've recently bought some cheap ear defenders from Screwfix JSP-Economuff-25dB-Ear-Defenders £2.99 well spent!

 

[Flyfisher]

Hearing protection these days ranges from the cheap and cheerful foam inserts to custom-moulded active electronic ones for hundreds of pounds. All are effective but some are more convenient than others. The foam ones, for exmple, will attenuate all sounds rendering you, effectively, deaf when wearing them whereas the more advanced electronic ones actively regulate the volume of sound into your ears. Thus, in a powertool environment, the noise from the powertool will be reduced to a perfectly safe level but when turned off the ambient noise is passed right through allowing perfectly normal conversation.

I use a 'halfway house' earplug containing a small mechanical insert. It reduces all noise to a small extent, though conversations are still very easy to hear, but it significantly reduces percussive noise.

 

[Penners]

the more advanced electronic ones actively regulate the volume of sound into your ears.

Do I remember reading/hearing (!) somewhere that "active noise cancelling" earphones can, in fact, completely eliminate the sound arriving at your ears? Something to do with generating an opposite waveform to the one coming in - is that right?

 

[Feltwell]

Decent non-electronic ear defenders let speech through to a certain extent, whilst filtering out the harmful frequencies. I've got a cheapo pair and it just deadens all sounds - whereas an expensive pair I was given whilst working years ago at a timber machining plant are much better, when there is no machinery running you can hear someone talking quite easily.

 

[MdB]

the more advanced electronic ones actively regulate the volume of sound into your ears.

Do I remember reading/hearing (!) somewhere that "active noise cancelling" earphones can, in fact, completely eliminate the sound arriving at your ears? Something to do with generating an opposite waveform to the one coming in - is that right?

Yep.

They work best at low to mid frequencies from what I've read and aren't great at the high end. http://www.reghardware.com/2009/06/17/reviews_noise_cancelling_headphones_roundup/

 

[Penners]

Hmmm - presumably that chap paid so much for his headphones that he can't afford a seat inside the aircraft.

I reckon he has a bit more to worry about than noise nuisance.

 

[Flyfisher]

In a previous international jet-setting executive life, I bought a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones and they were astonishingly effective at removing that constant background noise in an aircraft cabin. Just putting them on reduces the noise to some extent but actually switching them on is really quite weird as the background noise becomes really, really quiet and greatly helps to reduce fatigue on a long flight. They are quite expensive but very definitely effective (anyway, that's what expense accounts are for :wink: ).

Nowadays, I still use them with my old ride-on mower, which most definitely does not comply with the latest noise regulations.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Clerkenwell Screws (the hardware shop, not the escort agency) is one of my favorite places. It's a tiny shop between Hatton Garden and Gray's Inn run by an Indian family. Behind the counter the shelves are stacked from floor to ceiling in a seemingly haphazard fashion with countless dusty boxes. I went there today because Franchi's in Holloway Road, my most local favorite hardware shop, didnt have what I wanted, namely some chrome plated counter sink bush thingies (I dont know their proper name). The nice gentlemen at Clerkenwell Screws not only instantly understood my exceedingly vague description of what I needed but located examples in two different sizes in a flash.

 

[JoceAndChris]

My brother is currently working very hard on noise cancelling technology, in a mock up car on his drive! He's going it alone, but has just received the business development grant from the government. I really hope he's successful as he's putting literally everything into his invention.
In the future we will be able to enter a confined space and, without headphones zone into our own preferred noise.

 

[Penners]

I think your brother is on to a winner there, Joce - provided his device will work on cancelling the noise emanating from the passenger seat.

 

[Matt Green]

A really favourite piece of music played at high volume does, in my view, add something to the emotion of the performance.

Oh yes - some music is designed to be played VERY loudly. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJvNvBYTsGw

Curse you Penners. I've been humming nothing else for nearly four days now.

\m/

 

[Penners]

Sorry about that, Matt.

Try this one for the next few days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIaPIy4Mddg&feature=related

Interesting use of LOTR footage to accompany it. (A few seconds of silence at the start)