New York – A New York Post (http://bit.ly/WJpnCv) exclusive today says that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s new crusade is “preventing New Yorkers from going deaf.”
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According to the POST, armed with a study showing that hearing loss among teens is up 30 percent between 1988 and 2006, the mayor’s health officials are embarking on a campaign aimed at warring young people about the risks of listening to music at high volume on personal MP3 players.
The Hearing Loss Prevention Media Campaign is targeting teens and young adults through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
“With public and private support, a public-education campaign is being developed to raise awareness about safe use of personal music players…and risks of loud and long listening,” said Nancy Clark, the city Health Department’s assistant commissioner of environmental-disease prevention.
The cost of the campaign will be $250,000, and is being financed through a grant from the Fund for Public Health, the Health Department’s fundraising arm.
Bloomberg has long been a proponent of noise reduction in the city, signing into law in 2005—‘Operation Silent Night’—which cracked down on noise levels made by jackhammers on construction sites and the level of noise blaring out of night clubs.
Bloomberg’s new campaign is targeting the “iPod generation,” the first to use “buds” that are inserted directly into the ear.
Health experts say that, due to the fact that new players hold thousands of songs and have longer life batteries, prolonged loud listening is commonplace.
An iPod at maximum volume currently reaches 115 decibels, exceeding the 85 decibels researchers say is safe.
I am among those who resents the mayor’s intrusion into our lives, with his incessant efforts to control and legislate matters of personal choice. Here, however, I am more generous and will be a bit kinder in my opinion.
The noise issue certainly involves personal audio equipment that has enabled so many to remain plugged in for much of their waking time. Those who are in such constant listening mode are distracted from much else in life, missing much, sometimes in danger when in public. But I do hope that there can be intervention to limit the volume of music at chasunas. This has been a topic of discussion for many years, and things have only gotten worse. One does not need to stand near the amplifiers to have ear splitting experiences at a simcha. I personally find it impossible to communicate with anyone at simchas, unable to raise my voice over the decibels of the music, and completely unable to hear anything. Some people remain deluded that the volume makes the simcha. So sad. Might legislation work?
I hope he cracks down on musicians by the chasenes, the plain bust our ears
“But I do hope that there can be intervention to limit the volume of music at chasunas.”
Why don’t you come and live in the so-called backward and socialist United Kingdom where municipal intervention in and the prosecution of unnecessarily high noise levels in the public domain have been standard practice for decades?
All it took was a simple Statutory Instrument – not even a law. Now, even if my neighbor holds a noisy party that continues beyond 11:00 PM all I need do is lodge a complaint with the police. If he does not comply with an order to cease and desist he will very soon find himself under arrest, and his guests will find themselves with no party.
But, that’s what we do in a small, near third-world, island off the coast of Europe as your Baltimore correspondent once described this country. What do we know about solving problems quickly? Meanwhile, in the goldeneh medineh, you all continue to platz.
I commend the Mayor for raising pulic awareness on this matter. Many are unaware of the airbuds hearing loss risks. I fail to understand why bands continue to amplify music to intolerable levels at our simchos. The simcha is plenty enjoyable with lively dancing at much lower levels.
This is not an intrusion. It is raising public awareness. If he makes loud music illegal that would be an intrusion. We should appreciate his help in warning us of the risks.
? How many decibels is the sound of those excruciatingly high-pitched, piercing, actual-torture-to-the-ears FIRE ALARMS, that have been installed in public places (like schools, department stores, city halls) over the past twenty years? And what has been the role of these awful fire alarms in damaging people’s hearing?
Bloomberg’s noise annoys me more hours of the day than loudspeakers and fire trucks.
How about these loud radios in cars that blast and continuous horn-honking?(Which is supposed? to be ticketed for but never is?)
Or those new rumbler tumbler police cars. Government can do anything and everything.
I think his recommendation will fall on deaf ears…
RebYid, you made me laugh!
Now the thieves will have to put a silencer on their guns before killing someone.
He’s at it again!!!
I just don’t understand it, NYC has many homeless (especially after Sandy) people, a money flux problem & more. Therefore, why is he spending 250,000 on this rule when he can be helping so many poor people & the economy with that funding?!
I think that in many cases the real culprits in the too-loud chasuna scene are the musicians themselves. I know of situations where the band refused the baal simcha’s request to reduce the volume. Apparently they’re afraid that if they’re not loud enough, the won’t attract the next customer (presumably they’ve already been paid for this gig).
Doesn’t Israel send inspectors with meters to simchas to check the volume?