Competition volume

[SuspectedApollo]

My team was at Buckeye this past weekend as well, and one of our advisers in the second level of stands measured the volume over 110 dB. In the queue we never measured, but it was way to loud to talk strategy with our alliance without shouting everything.

[frcparent]

It should be mandatory that all team members wear hearing protection. I drove semi and used it all the time. I was in no danger of not hearing a siren if I could not hear over the truck.

[jvriezen]

I would address it via the following ways:

1) Ask the sound guy/gal to turn it down. (or get a message passed to sound person via a volunteer if you don't have access.)

2) Contact the event coordinator and/or Safety folks at event, to report the issue.

3) If the problem still is not resolved, tell event coordinator (have Pit Admin contact them) you'd like to open an 'injury report' (or whatever they are called) due to the high sound levels-- this forces the concern to be documented (and probably resolved quickly.)

Come to think of it, the end game buzzer at Northern Lights was quite obnoxiously loud in the queuing area, where I was working as inspector making sure bots were ready to go. I should have taken one or more of the above steps. I'll be the lookout for the same at 10K Lakes this weekend.

[Koko Ed]

I remember hearing a story of a parent at an event calling the police because the sound was too loud. That's a little bit much.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

At Hartford this weekend the DJ/AV guy had the sound for buzzers/bells cranked to an insane level. I politely asked him to turn it down and he did. The rest of the weekend was much more pleasant than Friday night.

Has anyone else ever tried politely asking for the volume to be turned down?

I tried at Chestnut Hill. The DJ nodded towards me, but no perceptible change occurred. Members of the event staff also spoke to him, with little to no success.

[Nemo]

Last year the sound at North Star was loud enough to hurt my ears in the stands. I brought that concern to a safety advisor, and she brought it to other volunteers. It got better after that, which was awesome.

This is something that could be addressed from the top. FIRST can direct event organizers to follow certain volume rules, then event coordinators make sure the sound people know those limits.

I'm sure some of the people who run the sound at these events are used to other events where lots of the people actually want 100 decibels or more. It might not occur to those people to moderate their volume unless somebody directs them to do so.

I fully agree that this is an important issue given that we spend 3 long days at a typical regional event.

[dougwilliams]

I'm curious what everyone on here is using to measure sound level? I'm going out an a limb and assume mobile phone apps. As someone who has spent a good deal of time designing and measuring sound levels on cell phones, I would caution that these are devices are not intended for any sort of measurement accuracy, and probably have little correlation to on actual absolute value.

That said, clearly there are people at each events that are uncomfortable; I've experienced some piercing high frequencies at the events as well, and agree that the venues and sound folks should be more cognizant of sound levels through the venue.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

I tried at Chestnut Hill. The DJ nodded towards me, but no perceptible change occurred. Members of the event staff also spoke to him, with little to no success.

It makes no sense to not do what your customers are asking for. Time to pursue the steps outlined by jvriezen.

[jvriezen]

I'm wondering if part of the problem is that the show folks make the (reasonable) assumption that they only need to test sound levels on the fields, in the stands and maybe at the driver stations, not realizing that there are students and volunteers routinely at the outskirts of the field area for queuing and other things.

Hence, they put their speakers out there and blast the folks in the queuing areas, having not tested those areas to be within decibel limits. It would be better if speakers were elevated over the ear level of those working the event, rather than set on the floor as they often are.

[MikeE]

Originally Posted by dougwilliams

I'm curious what everyone on here is using to measure sound level? I'm going out an a limb and assume mobile phone apps. As someone who has spent a good deal of time designing and measuring sound levels on cell phones, I would caution that these are devices are not intended for any sort of measurement accuracy, and probably have little correlation to on actual absolute value.

Quoted for truth.
I also have experience measuring audio capture characteristics of cellphones and can confirm wide variations often within a single device model.

I'm usually at field side during an event and always use hearing protection once matches are underway.

[Fields]

I'm actually a little concerned now. Being my rookie year with FRC, I had invited my family to stop by and see what the team had accomplish. But having two kids under 5, I'm not so sure now.

[jvriezen]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

It makes no sense to not do what your customers are asking for. Time to pursue the steps outlined by jvriezen.

To argue the other side for a moment, just because ONE person thinks it is too loud, doesn't mean it always should be turned down as someone may be hyper-sensitive and it makes more sense to use earplugs for those few. My thoughts apply to legitimate complaints about volume level, which can be objectively measured with the sound tech's meter (or something better than a cell phone app!) at the locations where people need to hang out.

Also, I hope the standard pre-event preparation includes informing the show crew all the places where participants (students/volunteers) will be located and the need for sound levels to be acceptable. In some cases, teams will be in queuing for a long time if there are field problems and/or a match needs to be replayed -- while the DJ is playing audience participation tunes.

[IronicDeadBird]

Originally Posted by Fields

I'm actually a little concerned now. Being my rookie year with FRC, I had invited my family to stop by and see what the team had accomplish. But having two kids under 5, I'm not so sure now.

At the Denver Regional there are definitely hot spots or areas where the crowd is rowdy and causes a ruckus. That being said the inverse is also true there were areas where you could watch the match where it was not as bad.
I will dare to say it and I know some people hate hearing this so come at me CD!
I would be behind the idea that there is reserved seating for people with needs that would fall under this and other category. These seats would provide a decent view of matches without the insane noise levels. Roughly speaking I would save this area for people with smaller children, guests (I don't want to bring a principal into a mosh pit), people with disabilities, and the billion or so wild tripods that seem to grow out of the ground to film the competition.

[jvriezen]

Originally Posted by Fields

I'm actually a little concerned now. Being my rookie year with FRC, I had invited my family to stop by and see what the team had accomplish. But having two kids under 5, I'm not so sure now.

Check things out on Friday, and have them come on Saturday with or without ear protection as needed. And welcome to FIRST -- this weekend should be one of the best highlights of your FIRST season, regardless of how well you do on the field!

My inclination (without real hard evidence) is that the 10K Lakes Regioinal isn't as noisy as North Star, since the pits are segregated from the field. Since it is right across the street, running at the same time, they can visit pits and watch matches there as well-- though obviously they'll also want to see your team's pit and some of your matches!

[Conor Ryan]

I see 3 sides to this story:

1) Regional/District Directors want to make sure people can hear the event commentary. If you have noise concerns at events, these are the people you need to track down. They got the power to fix it for good.

2) Due to the nature of the venues we have, speaker set up is frequently the last concern for an event committee. Usually they end up where the fit, generally in sub-par locations where volume is turned up to compensate for poor placement. Generally speakers are aimed for the audience seating, because people are everywhere at FRC events its a unique audio engineering challenge, and usually the sound guys don't have the ability to add more speakers, which would be the ideal solution.

3) Frequently the volume at the source of the speakers is way too loud and people are standing next to it all day. Queuers are the most frequent victims in my opinion. HQ has given minimal guidance to keep the sound at a safe level.