1 April 2016. The inclusion of safe sound best practice in Music Victoria’s new guide for live music venues highlights how seriously the Victorian music industry now views the issue of noise-induced hearing loss. Victoria is Australia’s second most populated state.
Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan said there is a growing awareness about the risks of hearing loss and the new live music venue guide reflects this fact.
“Further highlighting this point was the fact that our guide came out days after AC/DC front man Brian Johnson announced to the world his hearing loss now threatens his ability to sing for one of the world’s greatest rock bands,” Patrick explained. “Soon after Johnson’s announcement, pioneer Grunge band Pearl Jam announced they will give out ear plugs at concerts to help reduce the risks of their fans developing hearing loss.”
As part of the process of putting together the Best Practice Guidelines for Live Music Venues, Music Victoria worked closely with many organisations to gain a snapshot of the issues currently facing the Victorian live music industry, such as noise levels, hosting all-ages gigs and planning-law reform, as well as providing practical suggestions for live music venues on how best to manage them. The Best Practice Guidelines for Live Music Venues was originally developed in 2012 during a live music roundtable attended by music industry and State Government representatives.
“As a key document that has helped Victoria’s live music venues lead Australia’s live music sector – regular updates are essential to reflect the ever changing landscape and provide robust, evidence-based information for people running live music venues,” Patrick said.
Included in the Guide’s Occupational Health and Safety Chapter is a section on sound levels that explains the hearing loss risks of loud music and what are the best-practice sound management solutions to manage them.
The HEARing Cooperative Research Centre (HEARing CRC), through its HEARsmart project that provides accessible information about the hearing-loss risks associated with loud-noise exposure, was one of the organisations consulted by Music Victoria for sound management section of this Chapter. HEARsmart Manager Jane Sewell said it was a pleasure collaborating with Music Victoria who worked with us to incorporate the most current thinking and the best possible hearing health advice for music venue staff and patrons.
“With the growing number of young people experiencing tinnitus and hearing loss, this really is an important area for us to work in,” Jane said.
Music Victoria is the independent, not-for-profit, non-government voice of the Victorian contemporary music industry. A copy of their Best Practice Live Music Guidelines can be downloaded here: https://www.musicvictoria.com.
Music Victoria and HEARsmart will hold a Hearing Health forum on 9 June 2016 to help musicians, sound engineers and live music venues find out ways they can have better hearing health and to get some direct feedback about the issue.
For more information about the Hearing Health forum, go to: https://www.musicvictoria.com.
