High Decibal From Horn Speakers, Is It Dagerous?

[steveb]

My school has a PA system made up of a lot of horn speakers in a small area. They have a program where they let the students be lunch DJ's and they play their favourite music at a high volume. I go home with an earache and wonder what damage it must do to young children.

Is there any way of convincing my school adminstration about the danger and is there a website or place to print information to convince them.

[Tywais]

You might inform them that the prime minister stated that discos, clubs etc. are not allowed to play louder then 90dB due to concerns of damaging the hearing of the younger generation. There is a lot of information out there with studies regarding hearing damage from loud music, just a Google search should get lots of hits.

Since he didn't state schools don't know where it fits into his scheme of things. Do need to walk softly in bringing it to the school poo yai's attention perhaps after getting the studies off the Internet and indicating you were concerned about the kids health.

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Causes/nihl/nihl.htm

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/113-1/editorial.html

http://www.aaa-hearing-aids.com/loudmusichearingloss/

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Causes/nihl/nihlfs.htm

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Caus.../loud_music.htm

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Causes/nihl/diff.htm

http://www.lhh.org/noise/

Edited July 8, 2005 by tywais

[The Coder]

There is a Christian primary school in Bangkok in my vicinity and the PA system is so loud I have to turn up the TV to compete with it even when the windows are closed and I am fairly far from it. They start barking sound bites over it daily around 7am where it usually wakes me up and they continue at various points of the day culminating when the kids leave the school into almost continual messages over it. If I walk by the school, I have the urge to covering my ears because it is just so darn loud and the speakers point right out to the street. One of the biggest disadvantages of living in Thailand to me is all the unnecessary ampliefied noise! Very inconsiderate but I guess if one grew up surrounded by it they don't notice it so much. Also nearby the various religions like to compete with amplified church bell clanging, mosque prayer, and the like. I guess the first thing I would do if I was in charge of noise pollution is make every single type of outdoor amplified noise immediately illegal. It just seems wrong to spam thousands of people with all that crap on a daily basis when people have better things to do at that moment than be interrupted. There are better ways to communicate, but for some reason spamming the airwaves is the method of choice for communication throughout Thailand.

[steveb]

You might inform them that the prime minister stated that discos, clubs etc. are not allowed to play louder then 90dB due to concerns of damaging the hearing of the younger generation. There is a lot of information out there with studies regarding hearing damage from loud music, just a Google search should get lots of hits.

Since he didn't state schools don't know where it fits into his scheme of things.  Do need to walk softly in bringing it to the school poo yai's attention perhaps after getting the studies off the Internet and indicating you were concerned about the kids health.

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Causes/nihl/nihl.htm

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/113-1/editorial.html

http://www.aaa-hearing-aids.com/loudmusichearingloss/

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Causes/nihl/nihlfs.htm

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Caus.../loud_music.htm

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Causes/nihl/diff.htm

http://www.lhh.org/noise/

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[steveb]

Do you know any place to get information specificaly about the danger of horn speakers? I believe they are worse than normal speakers but need something to show the school

[olaus]

It is easy to get tinnitus, if your hearing has been damaged from high noise.

If got, life is like a torture. The only thing look forward to is a quick death.

[Merlin]

Do you know any place to get information specificaly about the danger of horn speakers? I believe they are worse than normal speakers but need something to show the school

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

noise is noise. Once it's in the air, your ear doesn't care what created it. A jackhammer makes noise too, without any form of acoustic amplification.

Horn speakers are "worse" from a hi fidelity point of view in terms of linearity of frequency response, compression effects and directivity but all that has nothing to do with ear damage, any more than Tata Young is "worse" than, say Sting, or maybe Pavarotti, depending on your taste.

Volume is volume. Read some more of those links...

[Crossy]

You may want to broach the subject gently with the school head. Citing Mr Taksin's 'disco directive'.

Hire or borrow a sound level meter (a chat to the university physics department may yield a free result). What you will find is that 90dBA is a LOT louder than you think. Remember if you are dealing with music, it is the average level (not the peak) which is important.

Horn speakers tend to sound louder and more distressing than your average hi-fi speakers because of their characteristics, that's why they are used in Public Address systems, a few watts of power sounds very loud.

Good luck in reducing the noise pollution, unfortunately I somehow think you are on a hiding to nowhere, TiT after all.