It is no secret that prolonged exposure to loud sound is highly damaging to our hearing. Listening to loud music is one of the common factors leading to degraded hearing ability and tinnitus, and is deeply unhealthy.
At the same time, such level of noise negatively impacts the quality of sound perception, which degrades the musical side of the musical performance.
In what seems to be the echoes of the so-called “loudness war”, bands still stick to the idea that “the louder you blast it - the better”. But it’s not true. There are many other ways to energize the crowd without causing them sound damage, and I’d love to see more of those, instead of them trying to be the loudest ever.
Last concert I brought ear plugs for the first time and still heard the music perfectly fine. They were made for this exact purpose to be fair, but I’m never going without again. There seems to be a history of deafness in my family so might as well protect what’s left of my hearing while I can. I felt a little self-conscious, but at least I wasn’t the only one, so maybe the idea is becoming less controversial?
But still, I disagree with you (so going to up vote lol). I think I prefer they stay loud but we just encourage people to wear ear plugs. That way, when I sit as far back as I did this last time, it still feels like I’m right there in the middle of it.
I don’t fully grasp why would one advocate for loud music AND earplugs. Wouldn’t it make sense to just turn volume down? :D
So if I’m sitting in a farther seat I can hear it well but if I’m in a closer seat I can wear ear plugs. But maybe that’s my own unpopular opinion lol.
I was under the impression that sound systems at venues are built in a way that improves the reach for people sitting away by introducing louder speakers on the upper part of the installation, ones that don’t blast the front row but direct sound into back rows.
But that might not be a feature everywhere, and from that point I get it :)
Maybe it does make sense to make it loud in the front and just don’t blast it far, though I wonder if sound quality will turn from bad to shit if we do so.