- Messages
- 300
- Locality
- Paisley, Scotland
I've been playing tenor sax for a bit over a year now. In the past few months I've acquired quite noticeable tinnitus. Obviously, the possibility that the sax was causing it crossed my mind, but I didn't think it could be that loud.
This evening, I happened to bring home a Class 1 sound level meter and my daughter Elizabeth helped me out by holding it close to my right ear and reading off the levels. We tried a few notes in the dining room where I usually practise, and which is fairly reverberant, and then in the lounge, which is more acoustically dead. I played a few notes, mezzo forte. The results were alarming:
And that's not even using my loudest mouthpiece! It's not a rigorous test by any means, with just a handful of measurements made by a seven-year-old, but it's worrying.
The World Health Organization recommends an 85 dB(A) limit for a 40-hour working week, with the aggregate dose over time being assessed on an "equal energy" basis. What that means is that for every 3 dB increase in sound pressure level, the permitted exposure time should be halved. That means that, for a 100 dB(A) sound pressure level, exposure should be limited to 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week!
I'm sure the WHO is erring on the side of caution but even so I must get back into the habit of wearing earplugs while practising!
This evening, I happened to bring home a Class 1 sound level meter and my daughter Elizabeth helped me out by holding it close to my right ear and reading off the levels. We tried a few notes in the dining room where I usually practise, and which is fairly reverberant, and then in the lounge, which is more acoustically dead. I played a few notes, mezzo forte. The results were alarming:
Note | Frequency (Hz) | Dining rm (dB(A)) | Lounge (dB(A)) |
G | 349 | 99.2 | 96.4 |
C | 233 | 94.6 | 87.2 |
E | 147 | 95.0 | 98.4 |
C | 117 | 101.2 | 100.4 |
And that's not even using my loudest mouthpiece! It's not a rigorous test by any means, with just a handful of measurements made by a seven-year-old, but it's worrying.
The World Health Organization recommends an 85 dB(A) limit for a 40-hour working week, with the aggregate dose over time being assessed on an "equal energy" basis. What that means is that for every 3 dB increase in sound pressure level, the permitted exposure time should be halved. That means that, for a 100 dB(A) sound pressure level, exposure should be limited to 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week!
I'm sure the WHO is erring on the side of caution but even so I must get back into the habit of wearing earplugs while practising!