Just about everybody who plays music or has any responsibility
for sound has heard complaints of being too loud. Actually there is a logical explanation
for this.
As we age our eardrums become less compliant. They become stiff
like about every other part of our body. The symptoms show up in several ways.
The obvious one is that soft or high frequency sounds become hard to hear. We have
trouble understanding children or we have the TV cranked up high, or we miss a
lot in conversations. We can adjust to this loss to a large degree with a
hearing aid that amplifies the frequencies that we don’t hear.
Another way this condition shows up is that complex sounds
such as music, especially at higher sound levels, tend to distort. The older eardrum
and its associated components can’t react fast enough to transmit a clear sound
to the brain. We think that the music is just too loud when the real problem is
our hearing. The obvious solution is earplugs to reduce the sound level.
If or when I develop this condition I intend to carry a set
of earplugs with me when I go to a concert. This is no different than putting
on reading glasses to see fine print or to read street signs.
The problems arise when we don’t recognize the problem as a
physical one and insist that the sound man is used to rock concerts, people
mumble too much, or the printers intentional make the print too small.
My generation needs to get used to reading glasses, hearing
aids, and earplugs. Complaining, stop reading, or stop going to hear live
music is not a good choice.
