The Loudness War

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The Loudness War: Understanding the Battle for Loudest Sound

What is the Loudness War?

The Loudness War is a phenomenon in the music industry where music producers and mastering engineers compete to make their songs the loudest possible. This has resulted in a trend where songs are heavily compressed and limited to achieve a consistent volume level, often at the expense of dynamic range and overall sound quality.

Why is the Loudness War a problem?

The Loudness War is a problem because it sacrifices sound quality for loudness. Songs that are heavily compressed and limited can sound distorted and lack the natural dynamics that make music enjoyable to listen to. Additionally, this trend has led to a decrease in the overall quality of music production, as producers focus more on volume than on the nuances of the music itself.

How did the Loudness War start?

The Loudness War began in the 1990s, when CDs became the dominant format for music distribution. Record labels wanted their songs to stand out on the radio and in stores, so they began using compression and limiting to make them louder than their competitors. This led to a trend where each subsequent release was louder than the previous one, resulting in a race to see who could make the loudest song.

What is compression?

Compression is an audio processing technique that reduces the dynamic range of a recording. This means that the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of the recording is reduced, resulting in a more consistent volume level.

What is limiting?

Limiting is an audio processing technique that prevents the peaks in a recording from exceeding a certain level. This is done to ensure that the recording remains at a consistent volume level and to prevent distortion.

What is dynamic range?

Dynamic range refers to the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of a recording. A song with a wide dynamic range will have both quiet and loud sections, while a heavily compressed and limited song will have a more consistent volume throughout.

What are the consequences of the Loudness War?

The consequences of the Loudness War include decreased sound quality, reduced dynamic range, and listener fatigue. Additionally, songs that are heavily compressed and limited can sound distorted and lack the natural dynamics that make music enjoyable to listen to.

Is the Loudness War still happening?

The Loudness War is still happening, although it has become less pronounced in recent years. Many music producers and mastering engineers have become more aware of the negative effects of excessive loudness and are now focusing on producing music with a wider dynamic range and better overall sound quality.

What is the difference between loudness and volume?

Loudness refers to the perceived intensity of sound, while volume refers to the physical measurement of sound pressure level. In other words, loudness is how loud a sound seems to be, while volume is how loud it actually is.

What is mastering?

Mastering is the final stage of audio production, where the final mixes are processed and prepared for distribution. This includes adjusting the overall volume, EQ, and other effects to ensure that the final product sounds as good as possible on a variety of playback systems.

What is the role of mastering in the Loudness War?

Mastering is often the stage where the Loudness War is fought. Mastering engineers are under pressure from record labels and producers to make songs as loud as possible, often at the expense of sound quality. However, many mastering engineers are now advocating for a more balanced approach to mastering that prioritizes sound quality over loudness

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The Loudness War: Exploring Audio Volume in Popular Music

Music is an art form that has been evolving for centuries. One aspect of music that has seen significant changes over the years is its volume. The “Loudness War” is a term used to describe the increasing trend of music being mixed and mastered at higher volumes, often resulting in distortion and reduced dynamic range.

The “Loudness War”: A Brief History of Audio Volume in Popular Music

The Loudness War can be traced back to the introduction of the compact disc (CD) in the 1980s. With the CD, it became possible to digitally manipulate the volume of music during the mastering process. This led to a competition among music producers to make their recordings louder than their competitors. The trend continued with the rise of digital music formats and the popularity of streaming services.

However, the quest for loudness came at a cost. With music being mixed and mastered at increasingly high volumes, the dynamic range of the music was reduced, leading to a loss of detail and a “brick wall” effect where everything sounded equally loud.

Is Louder Always Better? The Controversy Surrounding High Volume Audio

The Loudness War has been a topic of controversy in the music industry. While some argue that louder music sounds better and more impactful, others point out that excessive loudness can cause listener fatigue and damage to hearing. In fact, the World Health Organization has warned that listening to music at high volumes for extended periods of time can cause hearing loss.

Moreover, music mixed and mastered at high volumes can lose its depth and texture. It can also cause distortion, where certain parts of the music become harsh and unpleasant to listen to.

From Vinyl to Streaming: How Technology Has Influenced the Loudness War

Advancements in technology have played a significant role in the Loudness War. With the introduction of the CD, music producers gained the ability to digitally manipulate the volume of their recordings. The rise of digital music formats and streaming services further fueled the trend towards high volume music.

However, technology has also provided a solution to the problem it created. With the advent of loudness normalization, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music have taken steps to address the Loudness War. Loudness normalization ensures that music is played back at a consistent volume level, regardless of how it was mixed and mastered.

The Effects of High Volume Audio on Music Perception and Listening Experience

Research has shown that high volume audio can affect our perception of music. When music is mixed and mastered at high volumes, it can create a sense of excitement and intensity, leading listeners to perceive it as more enjoyable. However, excessive loudness can also cause listener fatigue, reducing the overall listening experience.

Moreover, music mixed and mastered at high volumes can also affect our emotional response to the music. When dynamic range is reduced, the music can sound less expressive and less impactful.

Seeking Balance: How the Music Industry is Addressing the Loudness War

As the negative effects of the Loudness War have become more apparent, the music industry has taken steps to address the issue. Many music producers have started to prioritize dynamic range and avoid excessive loudness. Additionally, streaming services have implemented loudness normalization to ensure a consistent listening experience for their users.

However, there is still work to be done. While some music genres have embraced dynamic range, others continue to prioritize loudness. This is particularly true for electronic dance music and hip hop, where loudness is often considered a defining characteristic of the genre.

What are Decibels?

Decibels are a unit of measurement used to describe the intensity of sound. The decibel scale is logarithmic, meaning that a sound that is twice as loud as another sound is not 2 decibels louder, but rather 10 decibels louder. The human ear can detect sounds ranging from 0 decibels (the threshold of hearing) to 140 decibels (the threshold of pain).

When it comes to music, most experts agree that a safe listening level is around 85 decibels. However, many live concerts and nightclubs can reach volumes of 100 decibels or higher. Prolonged exposure to sound at these levels can cause permanent hearing damage.

But how do decibels relate to music specifically? When a song is mixed and mastered, the volume is often measured in decibels. A song that is mixed and mastered at a high volume, say -6 decibels, will be louder than a song mixed at a lower volume, say -12 decibels. While this can make the song sound more exciting and intense, it can also lead to distortion and listener fatigue.

The Dynamics of Music

Dynamics in music refer to the difference between the quietest and loudest parts of a song. A song with a wide dynamic range will have quiet, intimate moments and loud, powerful moments. Dynamic range is an important aspect of music as it allows for a more expressive and emotional experience.

The Loudness War has had a significant impact on dynamic range in music. When songs are mixed and mastered at high volumes, the dynamic range is reduced, leading to a loss of detail and impact. This has led many music producers to prioritize dynamic range in their recordings, in order to create a more immersive listening experience.

Conclusion

The Loudness War is a topic of ongoing debate in the music industry. While some argue that louder music sounds better, others point out that excessive loudness can have negative effects on the listening experience. As technology continues to evolve, the music industry will need to find a balance between volume and dynamic range in order to create the most enjoyable and expressive music possible.

Through loudness normalization and a renewed focus on dynamic range, the music industry is taking steps to address the issue. By understanding the impact of high volume audio on music perception and listening experience, we can ensure that music remains a source of enjoyment and inspiration for years to come.

YouTube quietly changed its loudness playback policy to achieve full average

YouTub Loudness

Youtube 14 lufs

loudness youtube

YouTube quietly adjusted its playback volume to -14 LUFS, achieving full equalization. The way YouTube regulates volume at first didn’t use -14 LUFS, which is an exact value. Starting in 2015, they turned down the volume on music videos relatively loudly to avoid freaking out about the volume when switching videos, resulting in a bad experience. ., Set the volume to a low level and reproduce almost the same volume, the overall loudness value set is about -13 LUFS.

What is LUFS? It is short for loudness units relative to full scale, which is the unit used in EBU R128, and EBU R128 is a set of guidelines for standardizing loudness and the maximum allowable audio signal level. The average volume of the overall sound is calculated and then the average volume is calculated and the difference between the volume and the desired volume can be adjusted.

TV stations, radio and online music streaming platforms will play the volume for processing, which can avoid the phenomenon of turning up the volume to attract attention, which is what we call volume competition. After averaging the volume, you can reduce unnecessary volume and focus more on sound quality. TIDAL, Amazon Music, and YouTube now use the same method to manage loudness. Average loudness can provide a better user experience and be more consistent across platforms. This is good for the listening experience and cross-platform management, and it can also avoid the problem of volume competition.

The volume of Michael Jackson’s Black or White has increased year after year in the various versions released between 1991 and 2007.

So do we need to start standardizing all sounds produced at -14 LUFS? Of course, no. Although many platforms have been averaging, there are still platforms that have not yet used the LUFS standard. For example, Spotify has not yet used this standard. Generally speaking, we don’t use the same volume and mix processing for soft rock and folk music. songs; and, conversely, this result will cause several songs of different key to sound at the same volume. In fact, most music has different volume settings in response to the performance of the music content during the CD release and initial mixdown. Like a jazz performance with a wide dynamic range and a volume of -18 LUFS or a hardcore 1990 techno, it can sound the same volume as a string quartet

A brief explanation of loudness normalization

Audio Normalization

Loudness Normalization

Audio Normalization

・ Is the volume of the sound source uploaded to the video site lower than that of the original sound source?
・ The sound source and volume of the CD are completely different from those of Youtube.
・ Sound pressure and volume increase with MIX, but it sounds small for some reason.
Have you ever felt like this when you were singing or posting on YouTube?
This is all because a feature called loudness normalization is working.

It has recently been introduced to Nico Nico Douga and applied to most music streaming services (subscriptions, etc.) in recent years.
Let’s briefly explain what happens to loudness normalization and what to do in the future.

1 What is loudness normalization?
2 It is important to have a mix with “margin”
3 How to know how much the volume has been lowered
3.1 For Youtube
3.2 Other services
4 Summary

What is loudness normalization?
In conclusion, loudness normalization is a
A specification that automatically reduces the sound when the volume exceeds a certain value.

It can be misinterpreted, but it is not a specification that reduces sound pressure.

Loud sounds are louder and cooler than listening to soft-sounding music!
I think there are a lot of people who say that.
However, if I personally think about why I voluntarily decided to lower the volume, I would like to increase the credit.

merit
・ Eliminate variation in the sound of each song ・
No need to adjust the volume every time you watch videos continuously
・ As a result, your ears do not get tired
The above can be mentioned.
All songs have a constant volume, so even
If you play music or videos continuously, you can avoid the problem of “the volume suddenly increased when the next song came!”.

You don’t need to turn down the volume, and it seems to be just a merit, but from a musical point of view, there are a few issues to consider.

A mix with “margin” is important
I’m sure there are people who say, “If you can turn it down without permission, no problem with high volume and sound pressure!”
Anyway, it’s great! I have prepared a simple diagram of what happens to the sound source mixed with loudness normalization.

As you know, if you increase the sound pressure too much by mastering, the waveform will become a sound source that will fill with sound and get louder.

If the volume is forcibly reduced by normalizing the loudness in the state of a sound source with lost dynamics, the lack of power can be highlighted and heard.

Adjust volume using volume normalization or gain compensation

Loudness

Gain compensation and automatic source normalization can be used to adjust the volume of individual audio sources. These volume controls, unlike other Wwise volume control functions, are transparent in terms of all logical operations related to volume. For example, it does not affect the decision to make a voice below the threshold (virtual voice) and is not considered in the evaluation of the HDR attenuation. It also does not appear in Voice Monitor.

Loudness

The sum of the gains for each source is displayed in the Wwise Profiler, Voices tab, in the Normalization / Compensation Gain column.

Font normalization
Loudness data collected during the analysis phase of your original file can be leveraged in Wwise to automatically normalize assets at runtime based on the expected loudness. Loudness value calculation is recommended by ITU-R BS.1770 for loudness measurement applying K-weighting filter, -70 dB absolute gate, -10 dB relative gate, 400 ms window and 75% overlap. Almost compatible.

The source normalization process is non-destructive and the loudness values obtained from sound analysis are stored separately in Wwise and the appropriate normalization gain is applied at runtime. This gain is calculated based on the loudness value and is “gain = – loudness – 23 [dB]”. For example, if the loudness value of the sound analysis is -37dB, enabling source normalization will cause Wwise to apply a normalization gain of “+ 14dB (+ 37-23)” at runtime. Also, if the loudness value by sound analysis is -12dB, the normalization gain is “-11dB (+ 12-23)”. That is, small sounds are amplified and loud sounds are attenuated. If you are not satisfied with the normalization gain calculated based on the loudness value, you can make fine adjustments using the compensation gain.

Will you survive the loudness war?

Loudness War

Loud War Countermeasures in the Age of Music Broadcasting

Loudness War

Spotify and Apple Music can enable / disable volume normalization based on user settings
Let’s go back to streaming music. Since the music industry does not have volume regulation like the broadcast industry, when playing a playlist as described above, there is a possibility that a comfortable listening experience cannot be provided due to a difference in the feeling of volume of music.

Therefore, streaming service companies such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube have established a mechanism to perform “volume normalization” (volume leveling) in order to unify the volume of content. It is a function that semi-forces the side of the platform to provide the same volume.

There is a reason for saying “semi-mandatory”. Spotify and Apple Music are application settings for playback that allow the user to decide whether or not to apply volume normalization.

For the Spotify iOS app, you can select Settings-> Play-> “Enable Audio Normalization”. Apple Music can be turned on and off by selecting “Music” -> “Adjust volume automatically” in the “Settings” application. YouTube, on the other hand, seems to be forced to apply volume normalization to all content.

Below are estimates of loudness normalization for the major platforms. Each company sends music according to this standard value. If the measured value is greater than this, the volume is suppressed and if it is less, it is amplified to this value. However, only Spotify officially publishes the loudness value in “Spotify for Artists”.

This default is not an officially announced value except in some cases. Also, it may change in the future. About AWA, the information I heard directly from “the person inside” before
Since J-POP generally has a higher sound pressure than this default, it means that the volume is lowered when shipped. It can be inferred that the high sound pressure regulation of AWA, a domestic platform, reflects such domestic circumstances.

As a music producer, I am concerned that if loudness normalization is applied to music with high SPL and the volume is forcibly lowered, the way the music is heard will be contrary to the artist’s intent. There is a possibility.

For music with volume normalization applied to music with high sound pressure, even when the volume of the playback device is turned up, the already small dynamic range becomes even smaller and the flat plate may feel thin.

The importance of loudness normalization Part 1

Loudness Normalization

Regarding the importance of loudness normalization in streaming services, Shimamoto says: “The volume of musical works varies greatly depending on the era in which they were made and each album.

Matching Levels in Home Recordings for Even Playback | LedgerNote

When playing a single album on a CD, I just had to adjust the volume to the appropriate level first, but in music distribution, it varies. Music of different ages and genres will be mixed. At this time, if there is a volume difference for each song, the user will need to adjust the volume one by one. Therefore, to improve the user experience. A mechanism is now required. ” On

music streaming, volume normalization generally calculates the volume value that indicates the perceived volume for each album, and for songs that exceed the standard value, please lower the volume in the application to the standard value. It works in the way you play for it to become.

Currently, the services that have announced the installation of such loudness normalization are used in TIDAL, Amazon Music HD, Spotify and Nico Nico Douga. Although YouTube has not officially announced it, it has been confirmed that it has adopted a mechanism that conforms to the same international standard. On the other hand, some streaming services, such as mora qualitas and LINE MUSIC, do not have these standards (* as of October 2020).

The TIDAL application also has a “Loudness Normalization” item that can be turned on and off.
European broadcasters have adopted the standard of -23LUFS plus or minus 1. Streaming services do not necessarily publish this number, but for example TIDAL has advertised it as -14LUFS and Nico Nico Douga has advertised it as -15LUFS. Also, Spotify uses a different standard called Replay Gain, but it is supposed to be around -14 LUFS.

Nico Nico Douga has clearly established the “normalization of loudness” standard for January this year.
■ Impact of

Loudness normalization in audio listening I tested various music services to see how loudness normalization actually affects audio listening. The song uses “Pretender” by Official Hige Dandism.

Loudness normalization settings are built into PC and smartphone applications. It is often on by default, for example Amazon Music HD allows you to uncheck “Loudness Normalization” in “Settings”. With Spotify, you can turn it on and off with the item “Standard volume settings: play all songs at the same volume”.

First, play “Pretend” normally from the Spotify application on your PC. After that, when I turned off the “Standard volume settings / Play all songs at the same volume” item in the settings and played the song again, I felt the volume clearly increased even when listening with headphones. (Note: Loudness normalization in Spotify works when you pause one song and then play the next song again. Pause doesn’t work).

Playing music from the Spotify PC app (left) and the volume normalization setting screen (right)
Now let’s try it on Amazon Music HD. This is easy to understand because the volume changes clearly if you uncheck “Loudness Normalization” even during music playback. I couldn’t find a clear statement on what kind of Amazon Music HD standard sets, but since there is a notation that it is equivalent to -14LUFS as a guide when creating content for Alexa, a standard equivalent to this is set. a high possibility that it is.

Played from the Amazon Music HD PC app (left) and the volume normalization setup screen (right)
Let’s see it on YouTube this time. YouTube does not have a volume normalization on / off feature, but you can see how much the volume has dropped from the original source in the “stats”. If you right-click while playing “Pretend” and look at “Detailed Statistics”, “Volume / Normalized 100% / 41% (content volume 7.7dB)” is displayed. In other words, it plays with the volume reduced by about 7.7 dB.

When I measured the volume of “Pretender” using iZotope’s music editing software “iZotope RX 7 Audio Editor”, this song was displayed as “-6.3 LUFS”. Since the standard level of loudness normalization differs according to the distribution site, it cannot be said unconditionally, but considering this information, it is estimated that it is reproduced with the volume lowered between 7 and 8 dB. NS

The importance of loudness normalization

Normalize Audio

With the rise of music streaming services, the term “volume normalization” is back in the spotlight. Music distribution platforms and streaming services that can be used in Japan have also announced the adoption of this “loudness normalization”, and discussions on this topic are becoming more active, especially among creators.

Volume normalization

We spoke to David Shimamoto, who is actively spreading the word about studio engineering, what loudness in the first place means, and what loudness normalization means to audiophiles.

David Shimamoto, representative of Vocal-EDIT.com

David Shimamoto Vocal Editing Service Representative
Vocal-EDIT.com. Graduated from the Department of Music Technology / California Institute of the Arts. After working in USEN Corporation’s in-house SSL studio, he moved into the international video streaming business. After a dozen years, he returned to the world of music. The book “Tokubakku-The Story of Digital Studio”, which focuses on the subject of loudness and deals with the Yomoyama story related to mixing and mastering from a unique perspective, is a self-funded book, but it is a lecture in many colleges music and vocational schools, has been adopted and introduced as reference material on Nico Nico Douga’s official blog. Twitter ID: @gyokimae

■ “Loudness” that quantifies how people hear it.

Loudness normalization is a mechanism that standardizes the volume of content playback that was originally introduced by broadcasting stations in Europe and the United States. Specifications established by an industry group called EBU (European Broadcasting Union) / ITU (International Telecommunication Union) are currently used throughout the world. LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) is primarily used as a unit to express loudness (sometimes the unit called LKFS is used, but the meaning is almost the same).

In TV broadcast, if the volume differs depending on the content, such as commercials, dramas and music shows, it will cause annoyance to the viewer. Therefore, a certain standard was set as a request from the broadcasting station.

The normalization of loudness was originally born from the request for television broadcasting and is a mechanism devised to keep the perceived volume of various content constant.
First of all, “loudness” is a different concept from the mere volume and level of electrical signals. Since the human ear does not sound the same at all frequencies, the concept of “volume” was born as a method to reduce it quantitatively based on “how loud it can be heard by the human ear.”

Even at the same signal level, the human ear has the characteristic that low-frequency sounds are more difficult to hear, sounds are more audible around 4kHz, and continuous sounds are more audible than instantaneous ones. Loudness is a quantification of how music is heard based on these characteristics.
There is also the word “sound pressure” as a word with similar nuances. The original meaning of the word “sound pressure” is to express how much is greater than the minimum level that the human ear can perceive, with one unit of pressure. However, today, as the word “sound pressure warfare” represents it, there is a slight deviation in its meaning.

Therefore, based on the intention of Mr. Shimamoto in this document, we do not dare to use the word “sound pressure”, but we use two things: “signal level”, which indicates the magnitude of the digital signal, and “loudness”, which quantifies the hearing of the human ear. I want to try to explain in words.

(Since the method of calculating the loudness value is complicated, I will skip it here. To understand this article, I would like you to keep in mind that the higher the number, the louder the sound.)

■ Broadcast service The role of loudness normalization in

Listeners in general are rarely aware of the existence of loudness normalization when used as a broadcast application. However, with the launch of music streaming services, it has also become of great importance to music listeners. Specifically, the user can now configure the on / off in the application.

How to normalize the loudness of a video

Video Loudness

For decades it was achieved that MP3s could be normalized in their volume gain so that they all had the same loudness.

video loudness

Over time, the format of the files that people download has diversified.

If we talk about audio, we could say that people now download files in flac format, in Ogg format, wma, etc.

And with the great relevance that the world of videos has taken lately, many people download music videos and also find it necessary to normalize the volume level of these videos.

Mp4Gain is the best program AND perhaps the only one that can normalize the audio of the videos to make the loudness correct.

Avi, mpeg, mp4, flv, 3gp, etc. Some of the many video formats that Mp4Gain can normalize your volume level are.

The method of handling the program is really very simple because it is only necessary to load the file (s) and press a button to achieve normalization.
It can be batch or one by one.
The result of very high quality and absolutely corrects the problem and also offers the possibility of other capabilities How to equalize and improve the audio of the files also modify their tempo osu.ppy and a whole series of additional possibilities Which are very well received by users .

Normalizing the volume of a video is something that can be easily done today with this Mp4Gain program.

Which of course also allows the same loudness normalization in audio files.

It even also allows converting from one format to another without any problem, being able to even convert what was originally a video of a song into an audio file type MP3 or flac, etc.

Loudness: how do I know if I listen to my music too loudly?

10% of young people aged 15 to 30 never lower the volume of their music, at the risk of irreversible damage to their hearing. 10% of young people aged 15 to 30 never lower the volume of their music, with the risk of irreversible damage to your hearing.

Loudness

Hissing, tinnitus, hearing loss … The consequences of exposure to loud noise can be irreversible. But how do you know where to place the cursor? Sound and hearing specialists respond.

Hearing disability is no longer just for the elderly. The 15-30 year old generation, almost born with headphones on their ears, gets drunk on sound every day. To the point of creating more or less serious hearing problems. According to an Ipsos study, more than three-quarters have already experienced hearing problems, such as tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears) or hearing loss after high exposure to noise. However, 10% of youngsters never turn down the volume. How to listen to music without risking being deaf early? Our tip as the twelfth edition of Sound Week started on Monday.

Edward Tufte forum: Public performances: music always too loud?

What is loud sound?

“Starting at 80 decibels, we begin to consider a sound to be loud or very loud,” says Dr. Jean-Michel Klein. For comparison, the average sound volume is 30 decibels (db) in quiet places, 40 to 60 db during a conversation, 70 to 80 in a bar or restaurant, and 105 and 120 during a concert, as the website recalls. from Inpes, Ecoute-ton-oreille.com.

By adjusting the volume of your music in a quiet place, this allows you to create references. And save them, resisting the temptation to turn up the sound at the same time as the background sound. “It is a matter of education,” adds Dr. Klein. As a child, children receive sound toys, which will accustom them to being in noise. Once they are teenagers, the risk is that they will listen to their music again. stronger.”

What noise level can be dangerous?

From this risk threshold of 80 decibels, depending on the situation and the person, the volume can cause hearing problems. “The perverse side is that there is no fixed rule or warning signal. It is like driving too fast on a small road. You can do it ten times and fall into the ditch only the eleventh,” says Dr. Klein, an ENT doctor in Paris. and president of the National Union of specialists in otorhinolaryngology. The same for sound: some will damage your hearing from the first hearing of a loud sound, others after a few hours. Some after five or six long exposures in a nightclub, for example. The tolerance threshold varies from person to person. Therefore, people who have had repeated ear infections in childhood may be more vulnerable.

“The problem is not just listening too loud, but also listening to music at a sustained level for a long time,” explains Christian Hugonnet, president and founder of Sound Week. This acoustic engineer recommends taking fifteen minute listening breaks. “You have to get used to listening too much and learning to put on headphones regularly.”

The ear can be damaged before pain is felt. The pain threshold is in fact 120 dB, well above the danger threshold. And in some cases, the damage is irreversible.

What signs should they alert?

Ear “cottony” that corresponds to an impression of hearing the sound surrounded by a veil, whistling, tinnitus are symptoms that should be concerned. But it can also be hyperacusis, which makes noise intolerant or even a loss of treble, the first affected. So many signs that the ear has suffered. “When you ask someone to rehearse, it’s not a good sign. Same thing when you start talking out loud,” adds Christian Hugonnet. Risks are irreversible damage to the audience. And inflict early hearing aging.

When should you consult? As soon as the “abnormal” signs do not go away a few hours after exposure or after a night’s sleep, go to your otolaryngologist or, if necessary, to the emergency room.