Tiny Tech Tips: Why You Need Earplugs At Concerts

One of Bob Boilen's requests at the Tiny Desk is that no musician play louder than the singers can project without amplification, which has the effect of equalizing audience and performers, creating an intimate and balanced sound that's never too loud in the room. But when sound engineers need to reinforce venues bigger than an office, it's impossible to balance the sound in every area of the room. If you prefer to be close to the stage, you'll inevitably be a lot closer to the loudspeakers, where volume levels can become uncomfortably loud.

Hearing loss is extremely common,, prolonged exposure to loud sounds can damage cells in the inner ear and cause noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). It can cause , or a perceived ringing in the ears. Anything (the sound of heavy city traffic) has the potential to damage your hearing — and most live concerts at 100 decibels or so towards the back of the space, often where the audio console is set up. If you like to be closer to the action, it only gets louder — where you'll also find all of those fans screaming at the top of their lungs directly into your ear. So yeah, it's time.