excessive music volume at a kids sports contest leading to tinnitus

[mertserg]

I was at a sporting event at the weekend which uses music (won't be more specific to preserve identity) as I have been hundreds of times before supporting my kids. This time, the music was so loud it was causing me physical pain and after leaving the hall where the contest was being held, I realised I had tinnitus as if I had been at a rock concert. Over 48 hours later, my ears are still ringing though it does seem to be diminishing a little. Other people were not apparently as affected as I was - possibly the noise was due to specific location but also I have type 2 diabetes. Researching this issue, I have found out that Maes be more susceptible to noise damage than usual (something I was not aware of).

I tried to raise this with the event organisers on the day but after I left the announcer made a sarky comment about the complains saying it was more important that the competitors could hear their music. I am waiting to see what reply I get to an official email about this matter to the federation which runs the sport in question, but I have a couple of questions:

1. how long will it take fr the tinnitus to go away if it is temporary?

2. Is it possible to get permanent damage from this type of exposure?

3. Are there any good resources I can share with the federation to show that the risk to the hearing of the very competitors they reckoned were their main concern?

[mertserg]

The picture is a screenshot of a sound meter app I used to get evidence the music really was that loud

[HissingSid]

Over 90 decibels is excessive and not acceptable by law. Exposure to levels above 90 decibels will have long term effects on your hearing just as it did for me when working on repairs of ships in dock. Yes we were issue with ear defenders but while in the dock area you had to wear a hard hat which the ear defenders could not be worn with. Hopefully you don’t develop long term tinnitus but any damage done at the event may be irreparable. Get it checked out now and not ignore it as I did and had to pay the long term consequences now. Good luck!

[Ruud1boy in reply to HissingSid]

They only have a legal obligation to their employees, not anyone attending.

[mertserg in reply to Ruud1boy]

I think they'd still be liable to me if this is permanent as this was not an event where you'd expect loud music and no warning was given that the music would be loud. So far their attitude has been dismissive and rude so I am actually tempted to sue them apart from the fact they'd take it out on my daughter

[HissingSid in reply to Ruud1boy]

Is that not like saying if your neighbour played music loudly they would only have a legal obligation to the people within the neighbour’s house and not to the surrounding houses. I think that local councils and police would differ in opinion with you on that one! ASBO’s are issued to protect all people in the neighbourhood.

[Ruud1boy in reply to HissingSid]

But it's not illegal to generate noise above 90db. Lots of everyday items make that much racket - the lid on my wheelie bin has some sort of safety marking on it indicating it generates 94db when it slams shut and I don't have the police knocking on my door.

With regards this event, the organisers would probably argue that they didn't force you to attend, so it's one for a personal injury lawyer. 130db is ridiculous in a non-industrial setting - that's louder than the loudest rock concert and is hazardous to health.

[Judyspal]

First of all I'm sorry for your tinnitus,hope you're children didn't suffer because of the loud music you were all subjected to,you were right to complain about it ,that's way too loud.

I'm with hissing Sid on this one,get yourself checked out by the Dr,that way it's been registered, hopefully it won't be long lasting.

Keep complaining to the event organisers too,

Hope all goes well for you,good luck

[Ruud1boy]

You can direct the organisers to the BTA's 'Plug 'Em' site / resources, which gives information about volume levels and safe listening durations etc, or failing that just pull the information from the website yourself and incorporate it into your communications with them.

plugem.co.uk/

I think you'd need to make clear to them what sort of a timescale the average db reading you've noted above was measured over. If it was 5 minutes, they might not be overly bothered - but even so a peak of 130db can damage hearing instantly & permanently, so if your reading was correct, the organisers are being wildly irresponsible. At an average of 90db, you're apparently 'safe' for up to 2hrs, but it sounds like it was far louder than it needed to be.

What was the event? Bollox to confidentiality. If they're exposing your kids to this kind of industrial hazard, they need to understand that it's dangerous.

[mertserg]

I have attended probably hundreds of these events and never had this issue before. The music was at the average of over 90dB for at least an hour. Some events use set music which apparently were sensible volume (I don't know as I had left even though my daughter stayed to compete). The problem was where competitors sent in music files and the announcer didn't vary the setting depending on loudness of the music file.

I am tempted to report this event to the local authority in question (as they are responsible for H&S at leisure centres) BUT......the people who run the sport are known not to take criticism well and are likely to take it out on my daughter at future competitions.

72 hours later and still buzzing in my ears. They have yet to reply to my email