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Hearing:
Something that is often forgotten in the world of music is the anatomy of humans. Many people suffer from hearing impairments and many people don’t know that they are risking their ears. So in a place like The Forest, it is important to understand our hearing. Here are some examples of sounds from http://www.dangerousdecibels.org
• “A typical conversation occurs at 60 dB - not loud enough to cause damage.
• A bulldozer that is idling (note that this is idling, not actively bulldozing) is loud enough at 85 dB that it can cause permanent damage after only 1 work day (8 hours).
• When listening to music on earphones at a standard volume level 5, the sound generated reaches a level of 100 dB, loud enough to cause permanent damage after just 15 minutes per day!
• A clap of thunder from a nearby storm (120 dB) or a gunshot (140-190 dB, depending on weapon), can both cause immediate damage.”
Below is a list of sound pressure levels and the time we can expose our selves for it.
Continuous dB Permissible Exposure Time
85 db 8 hours
88 dB 4 hours
91 db 2 hours
94 db 1 hour
97 db 30 minutes
100 db 15 minutes
103 db 7.5 minutes
106 dB 3.75 min (< 4min)
109 dB 1.875 min (< 2min)
112 dB 0.9375 min (~1 min)
115 dB 0.46875 min (~30 sec)
Hints about our hearing and mixing:
• We can judge music best at 90dB
• Human hearing is most perceptive at about 3 KHz.
• We can stand 85 dB of sound for about 8 hours
Think of the volunteers, customers and yourself!