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There is a great deal of furore in the press at present re. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and the fact that he is suffering from tinnitus. Having just looked at an article on the BBC webpage it turns out Plan B has it too, and he is backing a campaign to encourage concert goers to protect their hearing with earplugs.
Now, I'm going to come accross as a grumpy, unsympathetic old git but here goes. I've worked in industry for nearly 25 years now, 19 of which at a power station using gas turbines, one of the loudest industrial machines in existence. I've always used hearing protection, reinforced by the encouragement of my father, who suffered hearing loss himself due to industrial noise. I've heard idiots accusing me of being a wimp and/or questioned my sexual orientation due to insistence on using hearing protection, and have spent the last 15 years wearing my safety controllers hat (when I wasn't being a Shift Engineer) enforcing the use of correct PPE. I have also in the past equipped my car(s) with over a grands worth of stereo (most of which got f*****g nicked one night, another story!) which I listened to turned up quite loud. I've attended rock concerts with varying levels of volume and been in nightclubs, one of which I can recall left me with whistling ears for four days due to the hideous sound pressure levels. All of which has meant i am more than aware of the effects of prolonged exposure to high sound pressure levels and the means to prevent my hearing being damaged by them.
So here's the thing. If for 25 years I've been told to wear hearing protection and have done so, and am more than awarer that loud music makes my ears not function correctly for varying time period following exposure, why is there this shock-horror I-wish-I'd-looked-after-my-hearing-sooner outpouring all of a sudden? Why the hell aren't the HSE kicking in the doors of every pub, nightclub, lice music venue et al and handing out enforcement notices? If we operated with the same attitude as many of the aforementioned establishments we'd have been fined/prosecuted/closed long enough since by the authorities. Yes, we should be protecting ourselves from the effects of exposure to noise, but the first step of any risk reduction program is elemination (which obviously you can't do as silent music is a tad tedious :-) ) followed by reduction & substitution. So come on folks, isn't it easier just to turn the volume down a bit, surely?
Now, I'm going to come accross as a grumpy, unsympathetic old git but here goes. I've worked in industry for nearly 25 years now, 19 of which at a power station using gas turbines, one of the loudest industrial machines in existence. I've always used hearing protection, reinforced by the encouragement of my father, who suffered hearing loss himself due to industrial noise. I've heard idiots accusing me of being a wimp and/or questioned my sexual orientation due to insistence on using hearing protection, and have spent the last 15 years wearing my safety controllers hat (when I wasn't being a Shift Engineer) enforcing the use of correct PPE. I have also in the past equipped my car(s) with over a grands worth of stereo (most of which got f*****g nicked one night, another story!) which I listened to turned up quite loud. I've attended rock concerts with varying levels of volume and been in nightclubs, one of which I can recall left me with whistling ears for four days due to the hideous sound pressure levels. All of which has meant i am more than aware of the effects of prolonged exposure to high sound pressure levels and the means to prevent my hearing being damaged by them.
So here's the thing. If for 25 years I've been told to wear hearing protection and have done so, and am more than awarer that loud music makes my ears not function correctly for varying time period following exposure, why is there this shock-horror I-wish-I'd-looked-after-my-hearing-sooner outpouring all of a sudden? Why the hell aren't the HSE kicking in the doors of every pub, nightclub, lice music venue et al and handing out enforcement notices? If we operated with the same attitude as many of the aforementioned establishments we'd have been fined/prosecuted/closed long enough since by the authorities. Yes, we should be protecting ourselves from the effects of exposure to noise, but the first step of any risk reduction program is elemination (which obviously you can't do as silent music is a tad tedious :-) ) followed by reduction & substitution. So come on folks, isn't it easier just to turn the volume down a bit, surely?