Moby concert and ear damage?


The other night I saw Moby performing at the Sydney Opera House and it was a stunning event with superb amplified sound filling the Concert Hall to the delight of 4000 enraptured fans.
The hall is really a vast volume (too big for any symphony orchestra to adequately fill) yet the volume produced by the amplifiers and speakers became so deafening that at times I had to crouch down behind the seats and block my ears......and I was sitting in row W of the Stalls?
I am sure that I must have suffered some permanent hearing loss over the 2 hour concert duration although thankfully there were some slow melodic songs to break the continual 100-110dB sound pressure levels.
The band members must surely wear ear-plugs to avoid early permanent deafness?

But this is not my question.
My stomach lining and chest cavity were vibrating and pulsing with the volume of sound but the bass drums and bass guitar were the lowest frequency-producing instruments on stage and I know that the lowest notes of the electric bass guitar is not lower than about 32Hz and most notes were way above that?
My home system with 2 Vandersteen 2Wq Subwoofers can produce 26 Hz in my listening room but my innards do not vibrate when I play low organ music?
So it must be 'volume' combined with frequency that vibrates the guts?
Is there a mathematical formula for determining what volume at 40 Hz is needed to vibrate materials compared to that at 20 Hz?
128x128halcro

Showing 2 responses by gregfisk

Jax2, I too live in Seattle and stopped going to indoor concerts years ago. I did just see David Grey at the Paramount. Great show but way too loud. That place can sound great if the mixing guy is good. I just can't take the loud and distorted music anymore. I really wanted to see the Beck show as I havn't seen a show at Benaroya and I like Beck, now I'm glad I didn't go. I have been going to the winery shows in the summer for years now which is a great place to see a concert. The sound is amazing with the right artist. And hey, the wine isn't too bad either.

Take Care, Greg
Hey Jax2, I like the Moore a lot and the Zoo is a great place to see a show. The zoo used to be really stricked about the drinking, but they seem to be better now. I've only been to the Gorge once myself also. I saw Steely Dan on there first tour in 20 years. That show sounded amazing, the sun was setting and we were in the golden circle seating area. I wouldn't go back thou unless I stayed at Cave B. It's owned by Dr. Bryant who was the mastermind who started the gorge. I've been fly fishing with him a couple of times, really great guy. Otherwise it's a tent in the parking area and I'm not into that anymore. It's good to know there are some audiophiles in Seattle.
David 12, My hearing loss is in the mid freq. range, so I guess that is noise related. I'm not surprised, I've gone to a lot of really loud shows in my day. We never even thought of using ear protection, just dumb kids I guess.

Take Care, Greg