Constant noise pollution

[LolaBeltran]

After watching the really lovely carnival parade in town yesterday evening ( elephants, floats, bands and wild costumes . . .very entertaining!!) I wandered over to the park to see what was up. I have NEVER heard a sound system that loud! It was actually painful and I could not stand more that a few minutes there before I had to move. Earplugs? I dont travel without them and I was wearing earplugs the whole time. They were useless before this onslaught of noise. The overriding guitar/bass/drum levels even completely drowned out the awful karaoke vocals . You could only tell they were singing from the videos (which could probably be counted as a blessing.) Are there any statistics on Thai people developing permanent hearing loss? Sitting in front of those loud speakers at that incredible decibel level for an hour or two MUST cause hearing damage. . .not to mention the people who worked there all evening. Having attended many festivals, concerts and staged events here over the years. . .they seem to be getting louder and louder.

[Homer]

Earplugs? I dont travel without them and I was wearing earplugs the whole time. They were useless before this onslaught of noise.

There are earplugs and there are industrial strength earplugs. Fit makes a big difference in effectiveness. These reduce noise by 32 db and fit anyone: http://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-Las ... B003628ODO. I've used them since I lived on a street with a fire station. Never was woken by sirens with these plugs.

[usual suspect]

The earlier post about the excessive volume from the speakers is sadly 'normal' here in Thailand
Any wedding party,or similar function in the Issan villages just HAS to have monster speakers pumping out mega bass-tones for at least a 24hr period..
I was asked "how is the new Plaza on Bintabaat doing nowadays"?
My reply was "It's half full every night as usual"...This been the case due to no-one wanting to sit in the half of the area nearest the stage..where the big speakers are! (Can the traders there not see this..?)
I myself like many others can only sleep over here with the help of earplugs..luckily my workplace supply them.

[Big Boy]

Sat outside the cinema last night, waiting to go in. The background noise there is incredible, to the extent it was hard to talk to my son sat next to me. Very uncomfortable.