Spinning Music Decible Levels, Tinnitus

[Miranda]

Thx ladies for those responses. I think the music at the gym needs to change. Appreciate the tip on measuring the volume at each bike with the device. Makes a lot of sense. People can be so grumpy about things. Don't think they realize the potential. Even when you try to tell them. Things will just "happen to someone else", not them. I bought the foam ear plugs at the drug store. They will be going in my gym bag for spin class. Our hearing as cyclists is very important for safety. I hate the thought that I might have loss. You see the ENT doc first, then a diff appt for the audio girl to test the ears. Takes a bit to get in. Try to post back on that. Any more thoughts welcomed.

[Crankin]

Keep us posted. I have been the only one at the gym at times who asks to turn the music down. When I was an instructor, I am sure people thought I was a fuddy duddy, since I never played my music that loud. That's OK, since my class mostly appealed to fuddy-duddies!
I recently developed tinnitus which may or may not be related to fibromyalgia. I discovered that i have a slight hearing loss in my left ear (which I don't notice in terms of hearing people) and now I wonder if it's from 30 years of loud music in gyms. I rarely use my I Pod, and I try to keep it low. The whole thing is annoying, but I don't have it everyday, like I did.
I have been after my son to use earplugs when he is recording his music or playing in clubs. It's not his full time career, but he developed a slight hearing loss from lots of ear infections and I didn't find out about it until he was almost 8. He is always saying "what?" I am sure all of the loud music has not helped this.

[Raindrop]

I've been teaching indoor cycling/Spinning for eleven years and have always been pretty careful about my music volume, mainly because I was raised with a deaf family member (my dad). Because of this, I've always been very aware of decibel levels and even when I can't actually measure them, I tend to error on the side of caution.

Ironically enough, during this last year I started teaching classes at a new facility. One girl, on at least three different occasions yelled, "turn up the music!!!". Rather than answer that kind of obnoxiousnous in class, (there are 34 other members that were fine with the level), I just smiled and continued the class. One time she asked me after class why I couldn't crank it up since she got, "more motivated by louder music"? I explained that it was within the decibels approved by management and that if the only way she could self-motivate was with loud music, she needed to dig a little deeper into what she really wanted out of a class. Recently, she's gotten hired as an instructor, even though she's still uncertified. I wonder how loud she plans on playing her music??

But I digress. Protect your hearing and if you already are experiencing difficulties, a hearing aid will really improve your life. They're much smaller and now can be adjusted to filter out background noise etc.

I still remember my dad telling me how isolated one can be without the ability to hear.