Preferably, limit announcements to the bare minimum and use pre-recordings. There is too much variability in voice intensity. A pre-warning chime before an announcement would reduce stress and allow time to cover our ears. It would also spare me from apologizing to passengers since I scream when I am awoken abruptly. Thanks for the data Darren.
The volume is too damn high on flights
31–40 of 180 posts
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#32I've always wondered why bars crank up the music so high to the extent you're yelling to convey conversation to the person next to you. One of my friends hypothesized that it was done to focus patrons on drinking and not chatter, but socializing is a big part of the bar scene... Anyone know?
It's the same reason most bars are set up to be cramped spaces, it forces people to be closer together which makes people uncomfortable which makes them drink more.
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#33I used to work for a major jet engine manufacturer. Noise reduction is right up there with fuel consumption in consideration with new model development. Not because of complaining passengers though.. A lot of the push comes from certain airports that aren't far enough outside of major cities (I can't remember which ones exactly, I think it was mostly a few major asian cities). They actually restrict certain models from using their airport.
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#34I've always wondered why bars crank up the music so high to the extent you're yelling to convey conversation to the person next to you. One of my friends hypothesized that it was done to focus patrons on drinking and not chatter, but socializing is a big part of the bar scene... Anyone know?
They do it on purpose. The less patrons talk to each other the more alcohol they drink. That's why the music volume is increased as the night progresses. They get them into the establishment, customers start drinking, eventually it gets to a point where they can't hear each other so they just focus on drinking. Not all places do this, just the places that are strongly focused on the profits.
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#35The PA when heard over the headphones (when watching a movie, etc.) is even worse - I wouldn't be surprised if it was over 100dB. Sometimes a movie has quiet audio, or quiet moments requiring you to turn up the volume a lot. More than once I have been painfully ear-raped by the flight attendant PA system in my earphones for this reason. Just another instance of outrageously bad customer service in the airline industr…
This is why some headphones (notably the Bose QC15) have a little hi/lo switch on the connector. When using the in-flight entertainment, set it to "lo" which attenuates all incoming sound. Then you compensate by turning up the entertainment volume. This works because most aircraft systems deliver PA announcements at a pre-set volume and isn't affected by the entertainment volume. (The other thing I tend to do is simp…
Disconnecting numerous times throughout a long flight (e.g., LAX–LHR) is not only massively inconvenient and also repeatedly ineffective. By the time I've yanked the cord out, I've already been deafened (and scared shitless) by the beginning of the announcement.
I do like the headphone-level filtering idea, though, and might look into this for my traveling needs.
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#36The PA when heard over the headphones (when watching a movie, etc.) is even worse - I wouldn't be surprised if it was over 100dB. Sometimes a movie has quiet audio, or quiet moments requiring you to turn up the volume a lot. More than once I have been painfully ear-raped by the flight attendant PA system in my earphones for this reason. Just another instance of outrageously bad customer service in the airline industr…
I've stopped using the in-flight systems because of this. I use in-ear earphones on flights, as the design of them (basically ear plugs with speakers in the middle) blocks out sound and as a result I can have the volume lower, with the idea of preserving what's left of my hearing. Because of that design I not only _can_ have the volume low, but _have_ to have the volume low - and when the PA announcements override the volume to max, it's very loud indeed. On Virgin Atlantic flights, it hits the physical pain threshold, so I've stopped plugging in to these systems entirely and use my phone/iPad/whatever instead.
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#37Having many, many years of travel experience leads me to one Occam's Razor type observation:
If people would actually pay attention to a safety briefing instead of playing with their gadgets / not taking off their headphones, then the flight crew wouldn't be trying so hard to get the attention of the passengers.
With this unpopular opinion, I'll see myself out the nearest exit, which is actually located behind me.
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#38I also use earplugs and over ear noise cancelling headphones during flights. They work very well. I rarely fly United but I've noticed that some airlines are definitely worse than others when it comes to PA. I haven't used it on flights yet but did some research and splurged on the Faber Acoustical SoundMeter ( https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soundmeter/id287615105?mt=8&... ). I bought it since I live on a busy road…
In SF, waking around, the sirens seem so ridiculously loud. I have a hard time believing that loudness level was derived by research versus just going as high as possible without causing immediate physical damage.
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#39I've always wanted to buy some good earplugs to protect my hearing from noisy environments (es. near public transport in the city). Does anyone have a product they recommend?
I own the "Etymotic Research ER20 ETY-Plugs", about $13 on Amazon Prime. They're much more comfortable than the cheap foam ones you can buy, they actually stay in your hear, and the tube means that you can still hear high frequencies. They reduce the surrounding volume rather than attempt to mute it. This makes them great for concerts. There are also much more expensive concert earplugs for musicians, which do an eve…
These are great for concerts (assuming your ear canals are long enough - these are far too long for mine) but not so great for a flight situation like in the article. For blocking out as much noise as possible, foam plugs are much better than these.
Re: The volume is too damn high on flights
#40I've always wanted to buy some good earplugs to protect my hearing from noisy environments (es. near public transport in the city). Does anyone have a product they recommend?
I use Down Beats[1] while riding a motorcycle, they work very well at eliminiating the wind noise while still letting me converse with others. The one thing I like about them over the similar Etymotics is they don't stick out of your ear quite as much. [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A3Z44R2/
The bit that goes in your ear is also shorter than the Etymotics, which is good for me as my ear canal seems to be too short for the ER20s to fit. I tried about ten different ear plugs and the DownBeats were the only decent-quality ones that I could comfortably wear for hours.