Summer is such a great time to attend festivals and concerts that are on all around the country. A great time to listen to your favourite artists and spend time with friends.
Summer stands for slip, slop, slap and wrap and protect our precious skin and eyes but we are hardly ever told about protecting our ears. Like with our eyes and skin, we only get one set of ears as well. Once we damage our hearing, it cannot be fixed, we will slowly turn deaf.
Did you ever find your ears ringing or humming at the end of a festival, at the end of a night out or concert? That is because you have been exposed to too much noise, too much decibels actually, for too long of a period.
Festivals and concerts can be very loud for several hours on end. We measured the average noise level at the U2 concert in Auckland last year and got confirmed noise level on average at a concert are about 100-105db. Safe levels are around 85db. This means that most of us are exposing ourselves to damaging noise levels at festivals and concerts.
Can you do something to protect yourself? Yes, you can use hearing protection. More specifically, proper hearing protection and not earmuffs or foam plugs. Hearing protection that doesn’t sweat, that doesn’t block out too much sound. Hearing protection that allows you to still hear your friends, and that is hardly visible or maybe even flash. Hearing protection that is
environmental friendly, sounds natural and does not distort like foam plugs.
If you only go to the odd festival a ready fit hearing protector is the way to go, cheap and do the work. Take the ACS Pacato, discrete earplugs that protect your hearing while you can enjoy the music and talk to the people around you at the same time. It is like turning the volume down a bit, without distortion, so damage does not occur. These even come in a small metal container that can be put on a key-chain.
If you go to concerts and festivals on a regular base a set of custom made earplugs would be advisable. It is an investment but in the end cheaper and you get better protection. Custom made hearing protection is very durable, fits like a glove and has a perfect flat attenuation, again like turning the volume down. You can enjoy the music as it is intended and be assured that you keep doing that for years to come. The ACS Pro17 is perfect for this.
Enjoy summer, enjoy music, slip, slap, slop and wrap. But remember to ….
Play Safe Now so you can still Hear Tomorrow