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120 Decibel Car Audio Systems

Date published: October 24, 2005

It's Friday evening, I'm watching a nice Lifetime for Women Movie where Markie Post is being psychotic, have a nice glass of wine at my side, a snoozing cat in my lap and hear it...a sound that is so low that maybe elephants can hear it easily, and my mere human ears are picking up the depth of the sound, is it THE BIG ONE? I run and get into the nearest doorframe, which they (who is this 'they?') say is the safest place to be during an earthquake is in the door frame of your home. I don't know if this is true, but I'm there...

The sound becomes louder. I hear dishes in my kitchen cabinets begin to resonate with the vibration, then the sound becomes more pronounced, more deafening - AND IT'S A RHYTHM. It's some idiot's car audio system with it's woofers, which must be apparently 36 feet in diameter, turned WAY up. I can feel it from head to toe and remain in the doorway, wondering if my house can actually take it.

I do not understand the need to blast one's music taste so loudly and impose on not only the person next to you, but THE ENTIRE COUNTY. Sure I love to rock out and listen to music at a loud volume. But today's pounding beats that would, back in the day of phonographs, knock the needle clear off the record, it's way over the top.

The statistics are beginning to roll in as a result; young people in their 20s and 30s are lining up at hearing aid centers because of the damage they've suffered with their 'broadcasts.' We are going to have a generation of people who have little or no hearing by the time they are 40! It's a scary thought. It makes me think of the sunworshippers of the 50s and 60s who are now seeing skin cancer, and all of the advocacy of wearing sunscreen, staying out of the sun, opting for sunless tans, etc. I know what you're thinking; the ozone layer is depleated...but stay with me. I think you know what I'm thinking. Maybe we should look at smoking instead, as a better example. People did it as a matter of style in the earlier part of the 20th century, and then when it was learned of the harm and death it caused, well, the advocacy thing comes up again.

I predict that in about 15 years, there is going to be a whole movement about hearing loss and there will be some people out there lobbying against these extremely loud systems you can hear several blocks away. Or maybe not. (I can only hope).

I can't say **too** much about noise pollution though...I ride a Harley...He's loud...

Until next time...

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