Does your club or studio have a way to measure the volume level of the music you and the other Instructors are playing? I want to say that there's a sound meter floating around Life Time, but I've never used it... we do offer members free ear plugs 🙂
What got me thinking about this (beyond frequent complaints; "are you listing?" from Amy and daughters) was this very cool wall mounted sound meter I saw yesterday. It's called a SoundEar studio sound meter and it hangs on the back wall of the fitness studio, in full view of the Instructor. It changes colors as the volume in the room increases, displaying the Red dot when levels exceed the adjustable limit - in this case, 85 dBA.
According to the The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) the damaging effects of loud noises are cumulative and they have published these guidelines for the duration of exposure at specific levels. It's important to note that NIOSH is concerned with worker safety (that's you) - it's sister .org is the more familiar OSHA.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety - NIOSH - Recommended Exposure Limit - REL - for occupational noise exposure is
- 85 decibels, A-weighted, as an 8-hr Time-Weighted Average -TWA - (85 dBA as an 8-hr TWA)
Note! Exposures at and above this level are considered hazardous.
Exposure to continuous, varying, intermittent, or impulsive noise shall never exceed 140 dBA.
Chart from http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/noise-exposure-level-duration-d_717.html
So how loud is the music in your studio? Do you even know?
I'm struck by the similarity between asking an Instructor; "Is your music too loud?" and asking someone; "Have you had too much to drink?" Without an objective form of measurement, both are completely subjective and the responses to both can be couched by ego, rather than honesty.
I'm very curious to know if you have some way of measuring and/or limiting the sound levels in your studio [wlm_firstname]. Please let me know below.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
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I have one student that really complains about the loudness of the music. She has tried wearing special noise protectors.
She tells me that I am damaging my own hearing as well as that of my students if I do not reduce the volume.
BUT, when she is in my class and I reduce the volume to the level she wants, the rest of the class can barely hear the music. Students start cross-talking in class and they lose interest. What can I do? I agree that increasing the volume so high that the walls are shaking is not healthy. But, when the members cannot hear the music and they start talking to each other in class, that is not good either. Anyone have ideas about how to handle this sensitive problem???
Kristin you’re making an excellent point about “subjective” vs. “objective” measurements and I’m answering your question in the next post.
I have an admission. I LIKE LOUD MUSIC. Did you hear that :)?
Sorry, if its too loud, a) wear earplugs, b) take the next instructors class, c) I’ll turn it down if 55% of my class say its too loud.
In our new, totally cool and tricked out studio at Google the speakers are wall mounted above the same wall the instructor stage is and the screen comes down.
Due to some acoustic anomaly there is a dead spot around the instructor which I did not know about. I accidentally discovered it when doing my own workout (EBC) to video. I was in the middle of the studio facing the screen. I had set everything up as I do when teaching including volume controls. I pushed start and went back to the bike.
I literally walked into a wall of sound. I was shocked at how much louder the music was for the riders than the instructor. I was surprised that no one complained. Of course the average age of the riders at Google is about 22 so that could explain it.
Regardless of how loud you like the music, the moral of this story is maybe you don’t know how loud it is for your riders. Take a walk around the room with music playing.
Another issue that has been a bit annoying is ambient noise before music. At Google we use the Keiser M3 so bike noise is not relevant. However, fans are.
The studio designers apparently did not think of, or were advised to ‘not worry’ about fans. What that translates to is a bunch of free standing fans plugged in around the room. A couple of them are of the ‘fire station’ variety that sound like my airplane propellor at full speed. (some times I swear those fan blade tips are going supersonic) Ignoring for the moment how ugly a beautiful studio becomes with cords and fans everywhere the volume of the music to cover the fans is not insignificant.
At another studio where the Schwinn AC chain drive system is in use the noise from 25 riders at 90RPM requires plenty of db’s to cover.
A sound ear could be a very useful tool indeed. Since the well known tight fisted club owner is not likely to buy a Sound Ear I checked it out thinking I might spring for one. When I checked cost of a Sound Ear II (from the Huston, TX based dealer) I found a price tag of $766. That gives new meaning to, “Are you listening?” Guess I will.
I’ve used handheld db (decible) meters in my previous work. They are available at Radio Shack for as low as $50. Maybe have someone use it and report their findings if you’re concerned about volume. I agree, moving into the student’s space once in a while or doing sound checks is a good idea.
But here’s why I felt the need to post something: I don’t agree with you Sandra – is the class for you or the participants? I spend more time than I dare tell you preparing playlists and finding the “right” music. Having said this however, my belief is that providing motivation, coaching, cuing, form correction and the like is what we’re supposed to be doing first with music supporting the class not overpowering it!
There’s no way people in class “can’t hear” the music.
Earplugs don’t block out the bass line that destroys hearing.
I’ve gone to two studios whose location disallowed music of a certain DAMAGING volume. These studios are popular and people do not talk in class.
Spin classes that are too loud, increase cortisol production. This is why spin classes are full of people with thin legs and fat stomachs.
TURN THE MUSIC DOWN!!!