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Author Topic: Loud Movies Could Damage Hearing Jeffry L. Johnson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 809 From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 02-22-2003 11:48 AM                        here Loud Movies Could Damage Hearing Some Movies Register Over 96 Decibels POSTED: 6:40 p.m. CST February 20, 2003 UPDATED: 11:21 a.m. CST February 21, 2003 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- If you've ever gone to the movies and thought the volume was too loud, doctors say you might be right. An NBC13 investigation proves the sound levels in many movie theaters could be doing damage to your ears. Exhilarating, action-packed thriller movies are turbo-charged with ear-piercing sound effects. Most moviegoers NBC13 talked to say the volume in motion picture theaters is their biggest complaint about a trip to the cinema. "Because sometimes when you leave the movie, you can still hear it in your ears," said Flame Porter. "You just have a headache. They're just too loud and there's no way you can control the volume," said John Ray. "You've paid your money. If you're going to watch the movie, you're going to sit there and endure it." But enduring it could mean medical damage to your ears. To prove it, NCB13's Scott Mauldin took a store-bought decibel meter to the movies and put sound to the test. But before going to the movies, NBC13 checked some sounds you may hear every day. In a crowded restaurant, the amateur decibel meter peaked around 86 -- close to a 90-decibel warning from most hearing doctors but still in the safe zone. At the airport, the roar of an airplane topped out louder than 96-decibles from where we stood. Doctors say long-term exposure to that noise can hurt your ears. With the decibel meter on the hood of a car, every blast of the car alarm rated at 96 and up, considered unhealthy. To know if sounds are damaging your ears, doctors consider the loudness level and length of time you hear high volumes. Exposure to anything 90-decibels or greater becomes harmful for eight hours or more. "Once you get to a point where you go up in loudness, that time continues to half," said Dr. Dennis Pappas Jr. "In other words, once you get to 95 decibels, you can only be safe for four hours. Once you get to 100, it's going to be two hours." At the newest James Bond film, ear-piercing sounds from explosions to gunfire spiked our meter in parts of the film. The needle jumped constantly -- 96 decibels and higher several seconds at a time. It was as loud as the roaring jet engine at the airport. A different theater and a different show, Al Pacino's new thriller "The Recruit" barely budged the sound meter above unhealthy levels. During one chase scene the needle bounced up to 94 -- only four points over our doctor's warning. At a third movie, "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," sound effects in parts of the fantasy film left the meter jumping over 96 and up. Pappas says the sound check proves high volume in movie theaters could contribute to hearing damage. "I would say so. If you feel like you have to cover your ears because the sound is so noisy, then I think that would definitely be too loud," Pappas said. "A lot of what you feel though is a bass sound and that's something that might not damage your hearing." Pappas says if you feel like covering your ears, don't be shy -- it could make the difference between damage to your hearing and long-term protection. The volume at movies may be different each time the film is run and employees in some theaters check the loudness with sound meters, following medical guidelines for volume. Managers at every movie theater NBC13 visited said customers can always ask to have the volume adjusted. Copyright 2003 by NBC13.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-22-2003 12:47 PM                     That assessment is true. Here is a chart on "A" weight levels: 90db = maximum duration per day = 8 hours. 92db = maximum duration per day = 6 hours. 95db = maximum duration per day = 4 hours. 97db = maximum duration per day = 3 hours. 100db = maximum duration per day = 2 hours. 102db = maximum duration per day = 1.5 hours. 105db = maximum duration per day = 1 hour 110db = maximum duration per day = 30 minutes. 115db = maximum duration per day = 15 minutes or less. I might add this: The figures are total durations over a 24 hour period. As an example, if you hear bursts of 115db lasting one minute each 15 times over a 24 hour period, the limit has been reached. Then, blend in the other sounds you hear over the same period and calculate it out. It won't take very long... The start of unsafe levels actually begins at 90db. Now you know, so please watch your ears. I have worked around military aircraft for many years. A typical aircraft turbine engine at full power can exceed 120db. My hearing starts to drop off in the mid-range, and drops off to a point that I cannot hear anything above 12khz. I have been around too many turbine engines. Young people are even worse. They listen to their 2-gigawatt car stereos, and they seem to be practically deaf when you talk to them. They just don't know how bad high sound levels are damaging their ears.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 02-22-2003 01:00 PM                        There is some truth in that, but remember those durations refer to continuous exposure. Now some movies are quite loud over extended periods of time but that is rather rare. Most spectacular movies make very good use of judiciously applied loudness. We all know this problem and we all know that there are always people who complain even if you run the movie at very low levels. The main problem is the dynamics, the difference between loud and soft. Most people do not know or have a feeling for dynamics because their TV sets, car radios, all the music and noise that is continuosly around in supermarkets, elevators etc. have no dynamic. Many people trash their hearing with excessive loudness in headphones, especially the ones that are stuck right in the ear. Sure, we have to be careful with our hearing but I think the movies are not as dangerous as it sounds here.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-22-2003 01:02 PM                        I think that I would be able to take the article more seriously if they had used a high-quality calibrated meter, rather than the $30 Radio Shack model that they probably used. The basic point (that loud sounds are bad for one's hearing) is valid, but most movies don't have sustained loud noises--only occasional gunshots, explosions, etc. I tend to think that there are more deserving targets for complaints about excessive noise levels than properly calibrated theatres running films at fader settings of "7" or lower.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-22-2003 01:10 PM                     Michael, I respectfully disagree about the continous exposure thing. According to info I received while in the US Navy, it is a "total exposure" thing over a 24 hour period. If someone will cite an official document about this being a "continous exposure," I'll graciously stand corrected.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-22-2003 01:27 PM                     Scott: Those Radio Shack SPL meters are highly regarded -- at least, in some circles. For instance, according to my tech, they were included as part of the original THX kit.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-22-2003 01:51 PM                     The meter speced by THX is a CEL not radio scrap  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-22-2003 03:03 PM                     These theaters where people feel the need to "cover their ears" is almost always from some brainless wonder tech who is rolling off the bass and doing a sloppy job of EQing. Even peaks of 80db in one of those kind of auditoriums will give me a headache and hurt my ears within 10 minutes. There should be more differentiation, but we're talking about journalists here who don't really understand and are just looking for another shock news story. The freqencies has a lot to do with it. This is why I am firmly against anyone who EQs an auditorium and then walks away from the job without even bothering to listen to what they just did. Regardless, I'm betting the news reporter got the idea for the story from going to a typical rushed job multiplex theater where the sound level was adjusted for the feature and left to blow people's heads off during the trailers. Paul, I couldn't agree more about kids with headphones and those stupid car sound systems. Like Scott though, there are so many more deserving targets for this article. (BTW, I can guarantee you that movie you watched in Dallas went well over 100db in peaks.)  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 02-22-2003 03:37 PM                        quote: According to info I received while in the US Navy, it is a "total exposure" thing over a 24 hour period. Could also be over a period of 24 hours. I am not sure, I thought I had read that it meant continuous exposure. Anyway, if you watch a really loud movie you won`t be exposed to the high levels for 2 hours without interruption, and you don`t watch loud movies all day without any breaks. I am a very aural person so I pay attention to my hearing very much. But I also like to watch movies full steam ahead, and it doesn`t seem to have affected my hearing negatively. I took a hearing test recently because I had a vicious middle ear infection and had feared that it might have caused some harm to my hearing. After the test the doctor said my ears were still so good I that I could be a circus act. I just wonder about the hearing damage you describe. I would have thought that the Navy would have enough safety precautions to avoid permanent hearing damage to personnel.  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 02-22-2003 04:17 PM                     Having been in the military I would be very suspect of safety information from ANY military source. Protecting you from anything that will not result in your death or physical disablement is of little interest to the brass.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-22-2003 04:38 PM                     quote: The meter speced by THX is a CEL not radio scrap I don't disbelieve you. That is probably the current THX spec for an SPL meter, but I said that the Radio Shack meter was part of the original THX kit. So says my tech who was in the very first class held at the Lucasfilm ranch back in the early 1980s. [ 02-22-2003, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: Manny Knowles ]  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-22-2003 04:59 PM                     Bill, with all respect, I highly disagree!!! I think that is your personal opinion, and possibly you were a disgruntled ex-military man. I spent 22 years in the United States Navy, and I can tell you we were very cautious and concerned about injuries occurring to our personnel. Many of people have been severely disciplined in safety violations, and in some cases, faced a courts-martial board. The military spends thousands of dollars training individuals to perform their duties, and cannot afford to have that all go down the drain by loss of personnel due to injuries and life. Michael, the US Navy does....as well as other branches of the armed forces in this country. Our military is very concerned about noise levels. While a military person is on the flight line or in the area of aircraft engines running, (both recips and turbines), ear protection must be worn. The military provides high quality war protection devices. Civilian airports also require ear protection in high noise enviroments. Just for the heck of it, I took my Handy Dandy Radio Smack sound pressure meter to measure the intermittant pull-down and loop noise. I am running Simplex XL machines, (only 3 at present) and the "A" weighted noise 1 inch from the intermittant sprocket measured 105db SPL, the other came up with 102db SPL, and the third came up with 100db SPL. Much more nosier that I orginally thought. Maybe some of you should try that, just for giggles.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 02-22-2003 05:05 PM                        quote: The military provides high quality war protection devices. So if you wear these, you are protected from war?  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-22-2003 05:08 PM                    They're in the business of protecting from war so I would expect nothing less!  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-22-2003 05:09 PM                     Michael, just the "Booms"  |  IP: Logged

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