Are your listening levels healthy? Doing damage?

@emergingsoul  -- you need to pay attention to what weighting scale your meter uses. A Z scale is flat and not common on the consumer meters or phone apps. Meanwhile,  while the A scale most resembles the human ear's hearing at moderate levels. The sensitivity of the A scale drops off quite a bit in the low bass and high frequency range. The ear's "flatness" perception changes with volume, and the C scale is closer to the ear's frequency response sensitivity at higher volumes -- 100 dB or so.

As such, if your meter can switch between C and A, the C setting will show as louder if the music contains more bass.  (THis is also why some amps used to have a "loudness" button which boosted the bass at lower volumes.)

OHSA standards are based on the A scale. Depending on the frequency range of what you are monitoring, there can be a considerable difference between what the A and C scales show.

This is an important topic for all of us.  I have Decibel x on my iphone and try to keep below 85db, minus occasional peaks in low 90s.  I have used the app for a lot of day to day sounds and have been stunned.  Riding in traffic is close to 85 dbs.  The background noise on an airplane is frequently above 80 dbs. Think of the time exposure of that! Our world is surprisingly noisy. We have to remember that all sounds through our days are additive to what we expose ourselves to while listening. I've been practicing orthopaedic surgery for 34 years and just recently has our academy put out warnings of potential hearing loss as a result of operating room noise.  There are earplugs made by etyplugs that lower the volume without the sensation of muffling. These are great for live noisy venues as it serves as a means to preserve the sound quality, but at a lower level.  I have been using these in the operating room for several years and on flights, when I remember to bring them home.

@orthomead 

I’m planning to launch a lawn scaping business that advertises getting your lawn care taken care of without all the noise. My current landscaper is forbidden from using at least blower, and that took a little effort, but I think he’s happier

My fleet of trucks will consist of battery powered Grass cutting machines (plenty of batteries to make it through the day). My crew will no longer use leaf blower’s except in the fall and during first visit in spring. I will teach my lawn crew to use a broom, what a novel concept.

You won’t even notice us.

In our current period of existence, lawn scaping services are proliferating with crappy and noisy commercial Grass cutting machines with very dull blades that are awful for your lawn. And don’t forget multiple revving leaf blower’s throughout the ordeal of getting your lawn done. And of course your neighbors do the same thing. It’s getting very very noisy out there. Most of the time I can’t hold a conversation in my yard because of nonstop leaf blower’s revving. How did we ever come to this.

I plan to make a lot of money with my new lawn care service (maybe as much as an orthopedic surgeon), and it’ll be a bonus for the environment.

I’m 69 and have been using headphone noise suppression for over 30 years, when I mow, use power saws, vacuum or do anything that involves loud sounds.  I have three different SPL apps I use. All three are within a couple of db of each other. I’ve found that iPhones are a good piece to measure with. Generally, I don’t go above 85 and tend to stay between 70-75 db. I attended aDoobie Bros Concert a few months back in Nashville. I forgot my foam buds, so put tissue in my ears. I measured a SPL of 106 db!  They played great, but way too loud. 

two years ago, I could hear 12K Htz. Now it drops of around 10.5Khrtz. My listening sessions are getting farther apart, but still love to have a night of good listening. 

I attended aDoobie Bros Concert a few months back in Nashville. I forgot my foam buds, so put tissue in my ears. I measured a SPL of 106 db!  They played great, but way too loud. 

Unfortunately, this is all too common and sad from an avid concertgoer's perspective.   I love the musical attack of a live event, but some of the shows I've been to are just stupidly loud.   I took one of my kids to an outdoor concert event in downtown Boston where the artist included Julien Baker (younger artists and fans...) and her show had peaks in the 130dBC range!   You could feel the sound waves 'popping' my clothes.   Even with earplugs I had ear discomfort for two weeks and then my tinnitus jumped up in volume (likely permanently).

Wearing earplugs definitely help, but they don't cover shows like that.  When one looks at how the NRR rating works, it is not as simple as subtracting your earplugs NRR rating off of your concert levels.  e.g. https://www.sensear.com/blog/how-do-you-calculate-a-noise-reduction-rating-nrr

(NRR-7)/2 for many of the common earplugs I use (e.g. Etymotic Research, Loop Earplugs) give you only (20-7)/2 = ~ 7dB reduction.   When the shows are in the 100+ range that is still very problematic...

Having said all of that, my only regrets are not starting to wear earplugs in my teens at shows (vs my 30s).   I still would not give up the many awesome experiences I've enjoyed at the live concerts I've attended over the decades.   At least my hearing will have been very well used and thoroughly enjoyed when I get put to rest :)