Absolutely. If you go out to a bar, nightclub, or concert: bring good earplugs always.

For using power tools, always protect ears, eyes, lungs, and anything else you want to keep.

Anecdotally I've noticed that music at concerts and bars is not as loud as it was in the 1980s. I went to a Rolling Stones concert in the late 1980s and was practially deaf for several hours afterwards. Saw the Who like 10 years ago and it wasn't close to painfully loud. Don't see near as much live music in bars as I used to but it also seems to be turned down compared to what used to be done.

I believe you, obviously. (I dont go to concerts myself, but pretty sure have tinnitus and misophonia)

But on a lighter note this _sounds_ like a setup for a joke that involves hearing loss from earlier experiences resulting in your hearing at less and less volume as time progresses.

This is exactly what I suspect is the problem with a lot of sound engineers, where over-loud top-end frequencies damage their ability to hear those sounds, leading to an escalating increase in the volume of those frequencies. I've been to venues where the top-end is literally painful to the point of having to leave, and I'm always baffled that nobody running the place seems to notice or care.

Saying that some venues do cheap out by over-loading the top-end to seem "loud" instead of spending more money on more expensive low- and mid-range speakers.

Anecdotally, I've had tinnitus for as long as I can remember, but I never really noticed until I had a permanent loud whistling sound in my ears after a concert in a smallish venue in Japan in the early 2000s, that thankfully dissipated after a few days. But it made me realize that, the residual "sound" remaining after that, I was actually hearing it before too.

I know I'm not the target market for bars and nightclubs but I've always hated just how loud the DJ's play the music. What is the point of going to a social atmosphere when you can barely even talk to someone without shouting? Who actually enjoys ear splitting music?

It depends on the venue and the event, but for many people, music and dancing are the point of the experience, more than the social atmosphere. DJs of course are there entirely to play music and facilitate dancing, and don't really need to care how hard it is to have a conversation in the process.

When people like the music, it tends to sound better to them when it's played a little louder; when a DJ wants to raise the energy level, pushing the volume up a little is one way to do that. Repeat this enough times through the course of an evening and you end up with the PA really cranked. (Many bars install limiters on the sound system, to keep over-enthusiastic DJs in line...) If you walk in from the street, the ruckus might sound deafening - but if you've been there dancing for an hour or two, your ears will likely have adjusted along the way, and it won't feel so extreme.

Another reason for loud music is that loud bass feels really good. If you enjoy dancing, that deep rumble just gets in your bones and makes you want to move. It can be kind of a spiritual experience to let yourself get overwhelmed and swept away by the music, feeling and moving in the moment, not thinking so much. A good, well-tuned sound system in the hands of someone who cares about sound quality can give you this experience without the "ear splitting" sensation.

Even if the bar has no dance floor, loud music can help create a sense of intimacy. Drowning out all the other conversations means other people can't listen in on yours, and forcing you to lean in and pay close attention to the person you're speaking with might help spark a connection of the sort many people go out looking for.

There’s a myth that loud sub bass frequencies doesn’t cause as much damage as loud high pitch frequencies. Haven’t looked into whether it’s true or not yet.

It is quite possible to get tinnitus with low frequency exposure. I got mine from exposure to loud music while using earplugs that basically had no attenuation on low freq.

Leaving the club the silence outside sounded like my head was inside a slowly cooking porridge kettle. This disappeared in a couple of hours. Low frequency tinnitus appeared years later. I thougt first that my neighbourg must have installed a new air condition unit.

It's not just bars and pubs, but restaurants too. As someone who wears hearing aids, the loud music makes meals out really socially awkward, since you can't hear conversations across or down the table. It's not helped by the lack of fabrics and other acoustic deadeners, presumably because they are hard to clean.