Warning: this rowdy establishment serving alcohol may cause your ears to lose function.

A disclaimer such as this may seem a bit extreme to some people, but maybe it is what is necessary to stop what I like to call “excess noise” dangers.

On a typical Friday or Saturday night, the last thing most bar-goers are thinking about is hearing damage; most of the time, though, loud music found in these bars is causing just that. The question arises, – why is this music so noisy?

Some people might say it is a ploy to get people to order more drinks from the bar. With the music too loud to talk without shouting, it seems to me that social interaction goes down, and people focus more on drinking. Or it may be that a louder bar attracts more customers because it seems more of the place to be than a quieter bar.

Don’t get me wrong – I do not want music to be so quiet that the bar may not attract patrons. But there does come a point when it is just too much. If shouting is necessary for people to hear what is being said when they are standing next to someone else, which is typical of most bars I’ve been to, the sound level is most likely more than 95 dBA. Just 45 minutes at this level of exposure can potentially cause permanent hearing loss.

When will the public start to see this as a health threat? There are bans on smoking in establishments in many states and concern about wearing sunscreen to protect us from UV exposure, but not much has been done about this invisible public danger; maybe now is the time to establish laws for standards of acceptable sound levels in places like bars, clubs and at concerts.

For employees who work in these places, this should be an even bigger concern. Unless they are taking precautions to protect their hearing, they are the worst off in the whole situation. Exposure to 85 dBA for eight hours a day can cause permanent hearing damage. Interestingly, the sound level of power tools starts at 85 dBA.

Organizations like the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) are on a mission to protect the public and employees from excess noise dangers, mainly through promoting occupational hearing conservation programs and developing standards in regulating hearing loss threats. Obviously organizations such as this have not been completely effective in implementing policies in regulating music sound levels in places of business, such as bars, because it is still a problem.

Despite all the adverse effects on hearing, many of us still choose to go out to these places and come home with ringing ears or muffled hearing. Some people may think that if the music is too loud, then you are too old, but I would like to actually be able to hear that music when I get older. Until more action is taken on this issue, those of us concerned will just have to stock up on earplugs.