How loud do you listen to your music?

I listen at an average 85 to 92 dB's to get the detail and gratification I need out of my system (B&W speakers/Marantz surround sound system). I've been reading lately that at these sustained levels year after year, hearing loss will happen. I'm 50 now and am getting concerned for the future. I listen mostly at night when I'm home. I travel on the road about half the time. Are there ways to get the dB's down without giving up the impact and sound I need to listen at? I love deep bass and must feel that in my bones. I play the electric bass guitar as well. For example, would going to a pair of full size 2-1/2 or 3 way more efficient loudspeakers over stand mounts make any difference? On the other hand, is this really true that at these levels, hearing loss will happen down the road? Are there any older audiophiles out there in their 60's and 70's that listen loud and have not noticed any loss? This is a topic we should all be concerned about. Thanks.

Pdn,

Your hearing will get worse anyway as you age - so enjoy it while you can. Listening at these levels several times a week for short periods (not more than an hour) is unlikely to be a major problem.

Remember the quacks all told us to stop eating butter and switch to margarine....now, thrirty years later, they have discovered that Trans Fats are particularly lethal!

Thanks Shadorne. Makes much sense. You're right about the margarine. I stopped that a few years ago and went back to good old all natural butter !! I'm actually going to look at upgrading my standmount B&W's to a full size B&W monitor speaker (DM603 or DM604 for example) which could work to lower the dB's and still hear the detail and volume I like along with that bass kick. I noticed my powered subwoofer adds a lot to the dB levels. If I can get more natural bass out of the two mains and back off on the sub somewhat, that could get those dB's down. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hi Pdn

The lack of low level detail at lower SP level is not due to your speakers, rather it is due to your amplifier not having a low enough sound floor.

You should go and audition some amplifiers and listen to them at low levels. Take a SP meter and listen to music at an average of about 50db. When listening to a couple of amps at low you'll be surprised how many 'big name' amps simply drop low level detail.

I can easily listen at 50-60db on my setup and the music is still 100% complete and intact. I too do not want ruin my ears.

Regards
Paul

Pdn,

Check Equal Loudness Curves to see how volume level affects the presentation of the sound.

Notice that at around 30 db SPL, the average person won't hear anything at all below 80 Hz. At 60 db SPL one begins to hear 30 Hz and at about 75 db SPL the lowest frequencies in the audible range (20 Hz) become barely audible.

This is why bass audibility improves so dramatically at higher levels - put another way this is the reason for the "loudness" button (to help audibilty of bass at low sound levels).

The other important thing to notice on the plot is the area between two different "Phon" curves. It may help to take two extremes, just for illustrative purposes;

1) Imagine you listen at close to 40 Phon peak equal loudness.....then what you hear is contained between the 40 phon curve and the threshold LESS whatever background masking noise you have in the room. Even if you IGNORE the noise floor (usually around 30 db spl) and shaded the ENTIRE area between the curves you get an idea of the signal range that your hearing is working with. ( Anything on the source music that falls below the threshold will fall below audibility - so you are working with a MAXIMUM dynamic range of roughly 40 db SPL)

2) Imagine you turn up the sound to around 100 Phon peak equal loudness contour (yes I said extreme). Do the same exercise and color the area between 100 Phon curve and the threshold of hearing. (Immediately it should be apparent that you are now working with a MAXIMUM dynamic range of roughly 100 db SPL. This is similar to the dynamic range of a 16 bit CD - meaning you will not miss even the lowest level signal on the least significant bit on the CD, provided it is not "masked" by other sounds)

This is the long answer of why you may like to crank it.

The short answer is best explained by Dewey Fin in School of Rock, "Dude, I service society by rocking. I’m out there on the front lines liberating people with my music. Rocking ain’t no walk in the park, lady."