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Looking for advise ear protection

bluebird28

bluebird28

Guest
Feb 25, 2012
497
43
Tacoma. WA
#1
My wife an I went out to dinner and music while we ate. My friend who is a hired gun bass player was playing at a local Restaurant / Bar and I thought it would be great to see him. We got there early and talked to my friend Jim, not his real name. Ordered our drinks and dinners, Jim came over and sat down with his Coke. We talked for a while and the drummer hit the kick drum my wife came out of her chair and turned her hearing aids down all the way. I cringed and asked Jim if this was going to be louder than necessary. He got up and went to the BL and said that the band could not play loud as people where there to eat with little children, the BL stated that he would make sure that they did not play to loud. Well his idea of to loud and that of the other patrons and myself did not jive. The band started playing and it was extremely loud, I signaled my friend that it was to loud by putting my hands over my ears and he nodded and walked over to the guitard. The guitard pretended to turn it down but the volume never went down. We finished our dinner and drinks by the end of the 1st set, Jim came over and I told him it was to loud and we were leaving.
Long story short the following Thursday my ears were still ringing, I called and Ear Nose and Throat Dr. I have used to have my nose roto ruterd and made an appointment. When I saw the Dr. 17 days after the ear attack I could not hear out of my left ear. The Dr. looked in the ear as well as an audiology test, he said my ear drum was purple and behind the ear drum was full of blood. I am flying to my 51st class reunion on the 10th of Sept. The Dr. said he would not allow me to fly if my ear drum was full of fluid and that I would need to have the drum pierced and a tube put in so my ear could equalize pressure.
I called the restaurant and explained the situation to them and they said that they had requested that the band turn down the volume 3 times but the band ignored them. The restaurant said that that band would not be playing there again because of not turning down.

What would you do besides wearing ear plugs the next time you went to dinner and music?
 
#3
"What would you do besides wearing ear plugs..."

Sometimes, I stick my fingers in my ears.?.?.?

I'm sorry if my response sound facetious, but if you were in a place where noise was causing pain and discomfort you should have left immediately. Don't ask someone to fix it for you, just get out of there. If my house were on fire, I would not sit calmly on my sofa and nicely ask the Fire Department to put the fire out for me.
 
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#5
I am so sick and tired of a-holes who play to loud. Loud volume in a small club is a sure sign that non professionals are on stage. The club owner should have fired the band on the spot!
 
#6
This is a subject close to my heart, I am in in my sixth decade and very fortunate to still have excellent hearing.
In my youth, through ignorance, I assaulted my ears with loud music, loud motorbikes and loud tools, how on earth I escaped total deafness I don't know.

Nowadays we know better and my band do not play at ear splitting volume, we have picked up work because of this, most bands cannot control their volume never mind use dynamics.

I simply will not tolerate excessive volume any more and my bandmates feel the same way, if you play at reasonable volume the loud parts seem louder without causing burst ear drums. Many bands could use a bit of light and shade in their performance, if the band is playing so that customers cannot be heard by the bar staff then they are too loud, full stop.
 
#8
Too bad your friend didn't have sway with the BL. If it wasn't your friend's band I presume you would have been asking club management to twist their tails.

I wonder if your bleeding is more of a pre-existing thing that got pushed over the edge by the music. Or did you have a speaker in your ear? I can't help feeling if it was ALL THAT LOUD there would have been multiple complaints of hearing damage.
 
#9
From my perspective, if I was the Restaurant manager/owner and I had asked them to turn down and they did not, I know where the circuit breakers are and I would use them in the blink of an eye. There were multiple complaints 3 others were bothered enough to ask management to have them turn down and management was ignored. I didn't want to leave a perfectly good steak dinner and double shot of tequila on ice on the table.
 
#10
bluebird28 said:
From my perspective, if I was the Restaurant manager/owner and I had asked them to turn down and they did not, I know where the circuit breakers are and I would use them in the blink of an eye.
Click to expand...

But your're not the manager/owner.

There were multiple complaints 3 others were bothered enough to ask management to have them turn down and management was ignored.
Click to expand...

And you were not the band either.

I didn't want to leave a perfectly good steak dinner and double shot of tequila on ice on the table.
Click to expand...

To protect my hearing, I would. Sounds like cutting off your nose to spite your face. All to easy to be the one saying "If I was....." or "If this was my......." when you are on the outside looking in.
 
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#11
Would you have paid for your dinner and drinks without having consumed them? I do not understand your "And you were not the band either." I have never been in this type of situation before and wasn't quite sure how to handle it. We did leave after finishing dinner. I have spoken to other musicians in the area about the situation, they asked who the guitar player was. When I mentioned his name they rolled their eyes and said they had hired him but he would not turn down when asked as it would "ruin his sound" his amp just did not sound right turned down. When asked to get a smaller amp he said no. They fired him. I will faithfully carry ear plugs everywhere I go from now on. 69 years on this planet and I have never had a situation like this, one hellava wake up call. What?
 
#12
bluebird28 said:
Would you have paid for your dinner and drinks without having consumed them?
Click to expand...

If there was harm that could come to me or my family, you'd better believe it. It's just a frigging pile of organic matter that you will be voiding out of your bowels tomorrow anyway. How important can that be? Hearing damage can last forever.

And if the impending harm was life threatening enough, I wouldn't even worry if it was paid for or not. Harm may be in the form of fire, earthquake, terrorist strike, burglery, crazy naked man on stage such as Flea, offensive performance art like the guitarist who took a dump on stage and ate it, evangelist asking for money, Gallagher, etc., etc.
 
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#18
One must consider the venue as well. If you are seeing someone at a deluxe theater like the new Smith Center in Las Vegas, you can bet that every seat has been measured with an SPL meter, and the owners will do everything in their power to minimize risks of lawsuits. A local place may have no idea what safe SPL levels are, much less what SPL even means. Yes, some bars and clubs do have music that is beyond safe levels. It's your choice whether to stay or leave immediately. It is good that you saw your doctor, and a call to your local health department, or local tavern league may be a good follow up as well.

There are no guarantees in this life, you take your chances, and live your life knowing that you are the only one responsible for your well being. Don't drive a Pinto, don't drive a Yamaha to a Hells Angels Bar, don't eat potato salad at the family reunion, etc., etc.
 
#19
I recently bought some Hearos "rock 'n roll" plugs ($6 @ GC). Not so good for musicians, as they pretty much render you deaf while your wearing them. But very good for anyone subject to an extreme high-dB environment, i.e.; standing near jet engines (outside the aircraft), riding a Harley with straight pipes, complaining mother-in-laws,, etc..

I bought 4 pairs of them and keep a pair in each of my bass guitar cases (3) and 1 pair in the truck glove box.

You should always use some form of hearing protection when exposed to live music., imo.
 
#20
I did subsequently download a decibel level app for my android phone. I just do not know if it is really working correctly. I measured a train going by at a train station and it was only 84 db even while blowing its horn. Do any of you use an android app for such purposes, if so which ones?
 
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