Portable Karaoke/Speaker System — How Loud Are They on Average?

[whatdidyousay]

I was at an indoor place earlier where a woman had what looked like a portable bluetooth karaoke system which was a huge speaker that lights up and plays music. She was playing dance and hip hop music very loud and it was extremely annoying to say the least. Friends and I were yelling at each other from a few feet away. I politely asked several times if she could turn it down and she wouldn't budge for a while. So I was exposed to the sounds for about an hour at "party" volume levels and then she finally reduced the volume as people were starting to leave. I was probably about 3.5 to 4.5 meters away. I'm kind of worried since these likely have built in amps and are probably made to host parties and to thus get very loud.

tl;dr; someone was blasting a very loud karaoke system with huge built in speaker for at least an hour at very loud volumes and I was around 3.5 to 4.5 meters away.

Would this likely cause permanent damage or just a temporary spike? I unfortunately did not have any earplugs on hand as the keychain container that holds my earplugs twisted off one day and I lost them (this has happened several times now).

 

[whatdidyousay]

By the way, the karaoke system/speaker was similar to something like this:

Would any of you be worried of permanent damage with an hour or so of exposure to one from 10-12 feet away from one of these playing dance and hip hop songs?

 

[Simon85]

@whatdidyousay, it's most likely that you'll be fine, so try not to worry about it too much.

I unfortunately did not have any earplugs on hand as the keychain container that holds my earplugs twisted off one day and I lost them (this has happened several times now).

It's a good reminder to fix this up and replace the earplugs on your keychain. I haven't worn mine in quite a while, but I still carry them with me.

 

[Juan]

Would any of you be worried of permanent damage with an hour or so of exposure to one from 10-12 feet away from one of these playing dance and hip hop songs?

Sounds pretty bad to me. It is definitely possible to get lasting damage in that situation.

 

[PeteJ]

I carry earplugs in my pocket. Foam earplugs in their wrappers but I have also put a few pairs in small sandwich size zip loc bags.

Going to a party, you have to expect noise and loud music.

 

[whatdidyousay]

I carry earplugs in my pocket. Foam earplugs in their wrappers but I have also put a few pairs in small sandwich size zip loc bags.

Going to a party, you have to expect noise and loud music.

It was actually just a private dinner. I'd been to this place many times and there was never a random karaoke setup and is generally pretty quiet. Had no idea there would be music or I would have stopped at the store first. For some reason the included keychain container always malfunctions and I end up losing my earplugs; it's happened with the ER-20s and also the Alpines. My last pair of earplugs were Alpine MusicSafe and the container at some point recently twisted off so I'm out of them. And I'd probably never remember to have foam earplugs sitting in my pockets.

Bit disappointed both about the karaoke and the woman's refusal to lower the volume. It was a social situation around friends and coworkers and so I was too ashamed in the moment to get up and leave. No one else was complaining as is usually the case and now I'm wondering if it's leaving me permanent hearing damage.

The NIOSH chart allows up to an hour of exposure at 94 dB and OSHA an hour at 105 dB. The OSHA estimates sound terribly outdated, but I'm not sure. And I'm unclear if their numbers suggest that a single exposure at these times would cause permanent hearing damage versus just a spike. I'm not great at estimating sound levels and hope it wasn't higher than the recommended noise level but given I couldn't hold a conversation without raising my voice I'm assuming it was pretty loud.

 

[Exit]

It was actually just a private dinner. I'd been to this place many times and there was never a random karaoke setup and is generally pretty quiet. Had no idea there would be music or I would have stopped at the store first. For some reason the included keychain container always malfunctions and I end up losing my earplugs; it's happened with the ER-20s and also the Alpines. My last pair of earplugs were Alpine MusicSafe and the container at some point recently twisted off so I'm out of them. And I'd probably never remember to have foam earplugs sitting in my pockets.

Bit disappointed both about the karaoke and the woman's refusal to lower the volume. It was a social situation around friends and coworkers and so I was too ashamed in the moment to get up and leave. No one else was complaining as is usually the case and now I'm wondering if it's leaving me permanent hearing damage.

The NIOSH chart allows up to an hour of exposure at 94 dB and OSHA an hour at 105 dB. The OSHA estimates sound terribly outdated, but I'm not sure. And I'm unclear if their numbers suggest that a single exposure at these times would cause permanent hearing damage versus just a spike. I'm not great at estimating sound levels and hope it wasn't higher than the recommended noise level but given I couldn't hold a conversation without raising my voice I'm assuming it was pretty loud.

View attachment 47382

It's weird we have to be ashamed to look after our health issues...

No one would argue if it was skipping a hike with a bad knee...

 

[tinmandan]

I wouldn't worry too much brother. Be prepared for next time, keep on keeping on.

 

[Stacken77]

Would this likely cause permanent damage or just a temporary spike?

Do you have any indication that you've suffered damage? Fullness? Do you experience a spike?

Spikes are, in my opinion, mostly relative to how sensitive the auditory system is, so no one else can tell whether a certain (low-moderate) sound can cause a permanent or temporary spike or not. But a spike associated with loud noise and likely real hearing damage, is more likely serious, and permanent.

I know it's hard to give in and walk away, but I have to agree with @Exit...

It's weird we have to be ashamed to look after our health issues...

Stacken

 

[Juan]

It was actually just a private dinner. I'd been to this place many times and there was never a random karaoke setup and is generally pretty quiet. Had no idea there would be music or I would have stopped at the store first. For some reason the included keychain container always malfunctions and I end up losing my earplugs; it's happened with the ER-20s and also the Alpines. My last pair of earplugs were Alpine MusicSafe and the container at some point recently twisted off so I'm out of them. And I'd probably never remember to have foam earplugs sitting in my pockets.

Bit disappointed both about the karaoke and the woman's refusal to lower the volume. It was a social situation around friends and coworkers and so I was too ashamed in the moment to get up and leave. No one else was complaining as is usually the case and now I'm wondering if it's leaving me permanent hearing damage.

The NIOSH chart allows up to an hour of exposure at 94 dB and OSHA an hour at 105 dB. The OSHA estimates sound terribly outdated, but I'm not sure. And I'm unclear if their numbers suggest that a single exposure at these times would cause permanent hearing damage versus just a spike. I'm not great at estimating sound levels and hope it wasn't higher than the recommended noise level but given I couldn't hold a conversation without raising my voice I'm assuming it was pretty loud.

View attachment 47382

There must be tons of businesses and industries that do not comply with those NIOSH and OSHA stardards.

I read that not wearing earmuffs for just 5 minutes on a shift is equivalent to not protecting ears, or barely protecting them. Or said in another way, wearing earmuffs 95% in a noisy environment is not enough, one has to wear them ALL the time.

In my country maximum decibel standards are also measured distributing peak values over an hour, and creating a sort of average decibel level that softens (by making an average) the very loud peaks, and therefore does not reflect the real danger of the loudest sounds, even if those sounds are brief.

 

[whatdidyousay]

Do you have any indication that you've suffered damage? Fullness? Do you experience a spike?

Spikes are, in my opinion, mostly relative to how sensitive the auditory system is, so no one else can tell whether a certain (low-moderate) sound can cause a permanent or temporary spike or not. But a spike associated with loud noise and likely real hearing damage, is more likely serious, and permanent.

I know it's hard to give in and walk away, but I have to agree with @Exit...

Stacken

It's hard to tell since I've had tinnitus since I was a teenager. It was mostly something that I just noticed while laying down to go to sleep or a really quiet room until November 2019 when I was exposed to several minutes of multiple 130 dB+ fire trucks at close range during a crowded parade; there was also well over an hour of local marching bands and muscle cars and motorcycles constantly revving their engines/exhausts a feet away on the same streets. Now I think about it much more in the last two years.

Seems like the ringing is a bit more this week but I'm not 100% sure. One of the things that surprised was I didn't notice a cell phone ringing in the car the other day when a family member over 65 said "can you get my phone?"

And I definitely don't like the social stigma of looking crazy/weak when there are loud noises. I posted about an outdoor band at a restaurant a few months ago where I went to my car looking for earplugs and couldn't find any, so I ended up putting some napkins into my ears (which likely didn't protect much) and someone made the snide comment that, "we take good care of him" as though I'm sensitive to every medical need. Of course no one else complained about the noise that night despite us being a few feet away from speakers that I could hear from the parking lot.

This current situation bothers me because like I mentioned it's a place I've been many times over the years and can generally expect it to be a relaxing place. But this time I was startled by the loud music and the owner just kind of shrugged his shoulders and he was actually pretty far away from the noise and so it likely didn't bother him. But I was seated just a few feet away (around 3-4 meters) from the karaoke setup.

 

[Exit]

It's hard to tell since I've had tinnitus since I was a teenager. It was mostly something that I just noticed while laying down to go to sleep or a really quiet room until November 2019 when I was exposed to several minutes of multiple 130 dB+ fire trucks at close range during a crowded parade; there was also well over an hour of local marching bands and muscle cars and motorcycles constantly revving their engines/exhausts a feet away on the same streets. Now I think about it much more in the last two years.

Seems like the ringing is a bit more this week but I'm not 100% sure. One of the things that surprised was I didn't notice a cell phone ringing in the car the other day when a family member over 65 said "can you get my phone?"

And I definitely don't like the social stigma of looking crazy/weak when there are loud noises. I posted about an outdoor band at a restaurant a few months ago where I went to my car looking for earplugs and couldn't find any, so I ended up putting some napkins into my ears (which likely didn't protect much) and someone made the snide comment that, "we take good care of him" as though I'm sensitive to every medical need. Of course no one else complained about the noise that night despite us being a few feet away from speakers that I could hear from the parking lot.

This current situation bothers me because like I mentioned it's a place I've been many times over the years and can generally expect it to be a relaxing place. But this time I was startled by the loud music and the owner just kind of shrugged his shoulders and he was actually pretty far away from the noise and so it likely didn't bother him. But I was seated just a few feet away (around 3-4 meters) from the karaoke setup.

Lessons to be learned my friend...

If you're not even sure the ear got damaged, it's not much to be sorry for yet. Just be prepared next time.

Perhaps buy some earmuffs that doesn't look like real earmuffs.

Or earplugs plus headphones on top.

If you carry a bag often with you at work settings then not so much trouble...

Hope your ear calms down.