85 decibels

85 decibels - did you know that is the point at which your ears can get damaged?  I saw an audiologist last week and she told me.   Apparently, the eardrum is just 3 thin layers of skin. Was I was sensitive to noise?  asked the audiologist?  I assumed she meant in comparison to other people. Probably, I said. I seek out cafes without music, traffic noise seems to disturbs me more than most and in the milonga I wince at certain volumes or certain frequencies (for want of knowing a better term). I see that others don't although when I ask people if they find the music particularly loud, they often agree.

How loud is 85 decibels?  Not as loud as you might think.  85 to 89db is the sound of heavy traffic, a noisy restaurant, or a power lawn mower

The same site gives some warning signs:

A sound may be harmful if:

- You have difficulty talking or hearing others talk over the sound.
- The sound makes your ears hurt.
- Your ears are ringing after hearing the sound.
- Other sounds seem muffled after you leave an area where there is loud sound.

When does hearing get damaged through noise?
Most cases of noise-induced hearing loss are caused by repeated exposure to moderate levels of noise over many years, not by a few cases of very loud noise.

So, hanging out for hours in milongas where DJs are playing too loudly?  I should think so!

If the music is too loud for you, the obvious course of action is to tell the host you (and others, if you know it) find the music too loud. If there is no obvious host and the DJ seems to be in charge, you can try asking the DJ. Or, you can leave which is frustrating, especially if you have travelled a long way. DJs who play loud often play dramatic music with a singer who enters earlier than usual, or where the track gives obvious emphasis to the singer. Or, a DJ who plays loudly might tend to play an imbalanced set favouring rhythmic tracks; so if you stay you could end up feeling harassed and disturbed as well as deafened. Clearly, in these circumstances dancing for you is perhaps no longer the priority it might have been when you entered.

My own experience is that if I ask a DJ (or even if I or a friend asks the host to ask a DJ) to turn the music down it makes practically no difference. This was the case again only recently. Although the previous week the music had been practically all classics hardly anyone had been there. But the following week, on Easter Sunday the volume was overloud, the music overdramatic and the place was packed as I haven’t seen it in years. 

You might think DJs would be grateful for the free feedback but so convinced are most that they are right and the dancers wrong, that they only pretend to fiddle with the volume control or adjust it so fractionally that you can't hear the difference. And yet I have seen countless DJs sitting behind the speakers, where the sound is nothing like as strong as it is in front of the speakers; or they are not on the dance floor where the sound is played to, or they only cursorily visit the dance floor (perhaps to be seen to be taking their job seriously). Or they are going deaf.  So not only are they making a token gesture to adjust the volume, they are not even in the right place to hear what the volume is like for dancers helpfully telling them what is wrong. This is a DJ who thinks of themselves as superior to the dancers, probably an educator, and definitely not at their service, whatever they might say in their marketing blurb. A DJ genuinely at the service of dancers will take feedback seriously and gratefully.

I checked the price of a decibel measurer. Affordable! Well under £20. Next time I hear an overloud DJ play, should I measure the volume and show them or the host how close it is to 85? Would it make a difference? Then I remembered that such DJs do not tend to be worth hearing anyway.  Besides, I would only be branded (more of a) troublemaker, someone who just won't toe the line of the people in charge.

That is one of the reasons why I travel to dance - for more variety of DJs and for anonymity. You won't be there next week so no need to 'make a suggestion'. You tell yourself the pleasure of the novelty balances out the disadvantages although I find the real pleasure now tends to be in the daytime tourism or catching up with friends.

The funny thing is, in a sea-change from only twenty years ago, most businesses these days beg you, almost pay you for your feedback. Why is it that many milonga hosts and DJs, don't feel that way? Is it something to do with the particular themes associated with tango music and the milonga?