Moby concert and ear damage?


The other night I saw Moby performing at the Sydney Opera House and it was a stunning event with superb amplified sound filling the Concert Hall to the delight of 4000 enraptured fans.
The hall is really a vast volume (too big for any symphony orchestra to adequately fill) yet the volume produced by the amplifiers and speakers became so deafening that at times I had to crouch down behind the seats and block my ears......and I was sitting in row W of the Stalls?
I am sure that I must have suffered some permanent hearing loss over the 2 hour concert duration although thankfully there were some slow melodic songs to break the continual 100-110dB sound pressure levels.
The band members must surely wear ear-plugs to avoid early permanent deafness?

But this is not my question.
My stomach lining and chest cavity were vibrating and pulsing with the volume of sound but the bass drums and bass guitar were the lowest frequency-producing instruments on stage and I know that the lowest notes of the electric bass guitar is not lower than about 32Hz and most notes were way above that?
My home system with 2 Vandersteen 2Wq Subwoofers can produce 26 Hz in my listening room but my innards do not vibrate when I play low organ music?
So it must be 'volume' combined with frequency that vibrates the guts?
Is there a mathematical formula for determining what volume at 40 Hz is needed to vibrate materials compared to that at 20 Hz?
halcro
I don't think the frequency has to be that low, just loud. Witness the subwoofed car with the wump wump sound going down the street. Over exposure to average levels like that are bound to cause some hearing loss. I've had peaks of over 100 db at home but not 110 db average and it is rare that I play that loud. The average movie theater is too loud for me so I don't go to those anymore either. You should take some foam earplugs with you to the next concert just in case. I wish you well.
Much of what you hear off of a drum kit or bass guitar is synthesised lower during a concert. Also they use electronic instruments that you don't "see" while they are playing. Hench the extreme low freq or the boosted mid/lower freq that you hear.

Bob
I *always* bring ear plugs with me to every show I go to nowadays. I can't tell you how many times I was *so* relieved that I did. In addition, I usually bring a few extra sets in case my companions need them. On more than a few occasions they were quite grateful to have them.

I'm a headbanger from way back, but I have up and left a few shows that were just too damn loud. Thankfully, at 54, my hearing is still decent. I guess leaving those concerts was the right thing to do...

-RW-
I have pretty much quit going to in door concerts for that reason. I am kucky that I live an hour from Red Rocks and most of the artists I want to see want to play Red Rocks.
I think the open arenas eliminate compression that create
high decibles and pressure. However I still take ear plugs just in case.
I too have had to stop going to most shows. Much too loud.

And yes, there are subharmonic synthesizers used to create low

freqs.