Clubbers going deaf
Punters at music venues are damaging their ears as badly as if they spent five hours in a room with a lawnmower, a new hearing study has revealed.
Researchers at Ear Science Institute Australia measured the volume of music at a dozen clubs around Perth, in the first Australian study to comprehensively calculate venue noise.
They found the average sound level was over 95 decibels – on par with the noise emitted by a lawnmower or circular saw.
But more worrying, says institute director and ear surgeon professor Marcus Atlas, was that interviews with more than 300 patrons showed the average person spent five hours per session listening at that volume.
“These ears are getting an absolute hammering and that’s very alarming,” Prof. Atlas said.
