Really Loud Sounds

The bottom curve is close to the softest sound that the average person can hear at most frequencies.

The top curve is the threshold of pain--exposure will often result in threshold shift.

Listen: The Who, Charlton Athletic Football Club, London May 31 1976:

• ``Loudest Concert Ever'' (Guinness Book of World Records¹), 126 dB 32 metres from stage;
• Manowar, new record holder in 1984 and claimed to exceed the record in 1994 (129.5 dB, Hanover)
• Motorhead (130 dB, Cleveland 1986)

Why do some people love loud sounds?

• special state of consciousness, excitement,``thrills'';
• ``loud music saturates the auditory system causing neurons to fire at their maximum rate--a brain state qualitatively different from when they are firing at normal rates.'' (Levitin, Your Brain on Music).