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Comment by owyn | Hacker News Reader

That's super interesting I'm totally going to try this! I have mild tinnitus. I was in a band. I always wear ear plugs at other people's shows but did not wear ear plugs at band practice or our shows. I guess in hind sight, the situational need to be in the zone and hear everything overrode the common sense notion of "oh yeah of course I should always be wearing ear plugs".

Anyway, the tinnitus does sound somewhat like noise with a peak at a certain frequency. I guess I just think of it as "blood noise". Susanne Vega reference? Anyone? Okay, I'll leave the room now. (great song, check it out)

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Susanne Vega has a great oeuvre for an artist that is basically known for only one song (and a B-side at that!).

If both the audience and the band members have to wear earplugs, then how about simply not playing so fucking loud?

I mean, I don't know who you are or what kind of concerts you go to but Fuck you I'll take the bait on this one. Maybe Tiny desk concerts are for you. Stadium shows need volume. Every show needs some amount of volume to create an experience for that genre of music. Back then I had to haul hundreds of pounds of gear in a van to create that sound for my band and now I'd just have to bring a suitcase and plug in to the house system. These days on stage is pretty quiet and the bands all have in-ear monitors but you have to move a lot of decibels to create an experience for any genre. It was behind the band on stage then and killed your ears and now it can be in front of the band and just point at the audience and I think it's better for everyone. It's always a physical experience and the sound volume is part of it. Have you ever been at a show where your favorite band was playing your favorite song and people are talking over the band and thought that was kind of annoying? Somewhere in between is a range of venues and experiences. Yes, it's bad for your ears but you're not going to sit around in a quiet lounge by yourself. Live music is loud. Yes it's probably too loud. My ears are fucked. Thanks for your comment! Sounds like you have a lot of useful insight for the whole concert industry. Have you run sound at a show? Sounds like you are qualified to hand out ear plugs and that's about it. I would gladly exchange my tinnitus for your bullshit snark.

I'm afraid your hearing damage is causing you to yell at people not just in real life, but on the Internet as well...

Louder music sounds better. It's a common high school psychology lab to reproduce this theorum.

So sound men turn the volume up, which causes them to get used to the volume and experience hearing damage, which causes them to turn it up more, and the cycle repeats.

P.S. this also applies to classical and jazz. Turn the volume up on those for best enjoyment.

In a conceet environment there can be thousands of people literally screaming. The only way to achieve an acceptable SNR throughout the venue is to crank the signal. Being able to feel your favorite music resonating in your body is also a big draw for some people.

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