How Loud is a Band?
This is quite an interesting thread:
Ignoring all the people who have posted snide things, the thing which interests me is:
“Results are – Leq (average for that time period) 91.5dBA
Lmax (maximum) 107.3dBA
PEAK noise 122.8dBC”
Those are some very worrying figures. For the uninitiated, dbA is a measure of sound pressure (loudness if you like). 90dBA is approximately the level of a firealarm when you are standing 1 meter away from the sounder. Sounds at 80dBA will cause damage with 8hours of exposure and 120dBA will cause instant damage. This means that 91.5dBA is somewhere between the 8hours of exposure and instant damage. The question is, “Is a 2 hour rehearsal long enough to cause damage at 90dbA?”. I really don’t know. I am also not aware of any real research into the subject, but from these figures it is definitely possible that by rehearsing we are damaging the very things which we value the most: our ears!