Dr. Konstantina Stankovic

So that's what dB is.

And we can hear anywhere between 0 to 120 decibel and louder.

We can even hear a jet engine, and that's 140 decibel.

And to calibrate us, if I'm now speaking at around 60 decibel, to come here, I had to take a plane.

And the noise in the cabin is typically around 80 decibel.

If you drive a motorcycle, it's about 100 decibel.

If you go to a concert that you have referred to, it's not uncommon that it's between 110 and 120 decibel.

And jet engine is around 140 decibel.

And the loudest noise level ever achieved at a football stadium was in Kansas City, and it was 142 decibel.

That is deafening.

Literally deafening.

Because it's, again, a logarithmic scale.

So for every three decibel increase in sound intensity, you have to half the time exposure that's safe.

So now back to your question, what is safe?

Roughly speaking, 80 decibel is fine for eight hours, but for any three decibel increase, you have to half it, which means 83 decibel is okay for four hours, 86 for two hours.

89 for one hour, 92 for half an hour, while most of music concerts that use amplified music are above 92 decibel.

But it's not that everyone develops hearing loss, and it's not that we have to stop enjoying music concerts at all.

It's just that we have to take precautionary measures.

First of all,

Why does music have to be that loud?