With all the controversy surrounding the noise ordinances in New Orleans, and how changes in the ordinance will affect residents and businesses, very little attention has been paid to the people who are affected the most by loud noise or music: people who work in establishments who have music (or make “noise”), musicians, and the patrons who actually hear the music.

The New Orleans Musicians’ Assistance Foundation, a programming arm of the New Orleans’ Musicians’ Clinic. along with OffBeat and WWOZ, sponsored a forum on Sunday to create a new program called The Save New Orleans’ Sounds Initiative, launching on March 4. The program will deal with advocacy, education and treatment options.

The forum was certainly an eye-opener—I should say an ear-opener. Visual cues easily get more attention. Ben Kanters, whose organization, HearTomorrow.org, is focused on education on conservation of hearing, pointed out that we don’t think much about damages to our hearing. World culture is oriented towards the visual, not audial. In his talk, Kantor pointed out that no one would be foolish enough to look directly into the sun for 15 minutes (thus, frying your retina). However, most of the public, without question, would stand  in front of a speaker stack for three hours at a concert in front of speakers that are putting out the equivalent of 100dB—and usually higher. The same sort of damages to our sense of hearing occur .when we do this. We just aren’t conscious of the value of our sense of hearing, perhaps because most of the time the negative effects are cumulative over time, not immediate.

As baby boomers age—the originators of the “speaker stack syndrome”—we’re feeling the decrease in our hearing. And it’s obvious that musicians are subjected to  decibel levels on an ongoing basis that damages their sense of hearing. One other thing: the face that a lot of music is now enjoyed via headphones cranked up to damaging levels is also going to have a very deleterious effect on the hearing of younger people, some of whom have already incurred serious hearing damage.

Have you ever experienced ringing in your ears after being at a concert? I have. That means your ears are trying to tell you something. They have been damaged. After a really loud concert, most of us have the ability to get away from the damaging decibels, and let our ears rest, but musicians do not. Neither do the people who work in bars that blast music that’s way too loud to be enjoyed, or tolerated, by the normal human ear.

Too-loud music, loud sports events, even ongoing noise like a hair dryer (if you’re a hairdresser) can significantly damage your hearing. Musicians’ hearing is at risk constantly. It’s an occupational hazard. IN many industries, loud noise has been identified as an issue and there are rules and regulations that control it or preventative measures that have been put in place to mitigate the noise issues. OSHA creates those regulations. But due to its nature as art, OSHA regs don’t apply to music.

But how do we make the consumer public more aware that loudness damages your sense of hearing? The clubs on Bourbon Street feel that some level of ambient noise is necessary to create a party atmosphere on the street. They also feel that the music from their establishments is an enticement to people on the street to enter their establishments. Once one “bad apple” ups  the ante on loud music, the rest of the crowd jumps in and turns up their music. Frankly, if it were me, and it was too loud, I’d leave. But most people don’t do that. They’re accustomed to loud music; it’s culturally accepted.

One of the speakers said that in San Francisco, there’s a newspaper that tells readers where to expect loud music. I thought that might be a great idea for OffBeat, but who’s to determine what’s too loud? The residents? Visitors? Locals? Musicians? OffBeat writers?

A better idea, I think, is getting clubs who offer music to self-regulate, and in addition, require them to offer earplugs to patrons, gratis. (The Blue Nile, on Frenchmen Street, already does this). This obviously won’t solve the problem of loud music polluting the surrounding area, but it will at least give club goers, musicians and employees the opportunity to protect their hearing.

When clubs are shamed into protecting their patrons’ and musicmakers’ ears—perhaps by putting on a decal on their front door—this will help as well.

In the meantime, we need a serious educational effort to let young musicians know how to protect their hearing. Can you imagine how loud it must be to be in a brass band? A marching band?

I have an issue with sound engineers—most of whom have blown their ears out long ago—turning up the sound. They can’t hear, so we have to suffer. Ditto musicians whose hearing has been so damaged over the years that they can’t heard the music they’re supposed to be playing.

The Save Our New Orleans Sounds Initiative is something that’s been desperately needed to a long time.

Stay tuned to this blog and the New Orleans Musicians’ Assistance Foundation for more information as it develops, or email Christophe Jackson, [email protected].