So her complaint that she can't hear can't be heard.

She was never going to win anyway.  I am just picturing the judge: "Wait a minute, you expect me to believe that you attended a concert with the hottest/biggest pop star on the planet, where the primary audience is young screaming girls, and not expect it to be overwhelming loud?"

I really hate the people in our society who clog the court system with frivolous shiat because they choose to throw personal responsibility out the window.  I do not doubt that her hearing may be damaged, but BUY SOME FARKING $0.79 EARPLUGS YOU TWUNTWAFFLE!!!  Oh, you think that they do not look good/you may be embarrassed by what someone may think of you?  fark you biatch!   I mean seriously, what did she expect this concert to be?  How can you not expect it to be stupid loud?

Almost anytime I go to a concert, I wear earplugs.  You can hear everything just fine.

This is your life, not someone else's.  Life is full of dangers and it is your responsibility to determine how to best negotiate them...which includes taking preventative measures to protect yourself, your body parts, and your mental and emotional well being.

A concert is really no place for a herring anyway.

Endive Wombat: She was never going to win anyway.  I am just picturing the judge: "Wait a minute, you expect me to believe that you attended a concert with the hottest/biggest pop star on the planet, where the primary audience is young screaming girls, and not expect it to be overwhelming loud?"

I really hate the people in our society who clog the court system with frivolous shiat because they choose to throw personal responsibility out the window.  I do not doubt that her hearing may be damaged, but BUY SOME FARKING $0.79 EARPLUGS YOU TWUNTWAFFLE!!!  Oh, you think that they do not look good/you may be embarrassed by what someone may think of you?  fark you biatch!   I mean seriously, what did she expect this concert to be?  How can you not expect it to be stupid loud?

Almost anytime I go to a concert, I wear earplugs.  You can hear everything just fine.

Of course, as do I. Prior to turning to law, I was an audio engineer. Wore earplugs to any event or club.

But, that said, why is it so stupid loud? If you can't safely attend the concert without wearing earplugs (and yes, you can't safely attend the concert otherwise. If you attend a pop concert without earplugs, you have damaged your hearing), then it's too loud. It certainly doesn't need to be that loud. Between distributed speaker systems, line arrays, high efficiency cones, etc., they could easily put a constant 95 dB SPL at every seat. Instead, you get in excess of 125 dB SPL in the pit, and 110-115 dB SPL at every seat. Frankly, there's no good reason (Fletcher-Munson equalization curves notwithstanding - do your job properly, and you won't need to crank it to make it sound good).

So, the audio engineer side complete, that leads to the legal side of things: if you run an event that is unreasonably dangerous to the patrons, and you could have taken easy precautions to avoid it, then maybe you should be held responsible when those patrons are inevitably and foreseeably damaged due to your reckless operation.

Endive Wombat: Almost anytime I go to a concert, I wear earplugs.  You can hear everything just fine.

And if you feel like they muffle too much, get musician's earplugs.

I want to see this girl's audiogram.  I bet no lawyer would take the case because there is no evidence of hearing loss.

/sees hearing loss/noise cases almost daily.

Earguy: Endive Wombat: Almost anytime I go to a concert, I wear earplugs.  You can hear everything just fine.

And if you feel like they muffle too much, get musician's earplugs.

I want to see this girl's audiogram.  I bet no lawyer would take the case because there is no evidence of hearing loss.

/sees hearing loss/noise cases almost daily.

She went to a pop concert without ear plugs. I guarantee there's evidence of hearing loss.

/I question your credentials if you think she has no hearing loss
//particularly since she's an adult who attends concerts, and therefore is statistically certain to have some hearing loss

(not actually questioning your credentials, since I've read your posts previously. Simply impugning your statements in this thread. :D )

Theaetetus: She went to a pop concert without ear plugs. I guarantee there's evidence of hearing loss.

/I question your credentials if you think she has no hearing loss
//particularly since she's an adult who attends concerts, and therefore is statistically certain to have some hearing loss

One two-hour show is typically not enough to cause  measurable,  permanent hearing loss.  Temporary threshold shift?  Sure.  But a couple days later, the hearing nearly always recovers.  And, as you pointed out, there's the fact that she's an adult, and has had a life full of noise, disease, medications, aging, etc. that causes hearing loss that is indistinguishable from the loss caused by an intense concentration of noise from a single concert.

Have people lost hearing from a single concert?  Sure.  But the fact that no lawyer will continue her case suggests to me that she has no case.

Earguy: Theaetetus: She went to a pop concert without ear plugs. I guarantee there's evidence of hearing loss.

/I question your credentials if you think she has no hearing loss
//particularly since she's an adult who attends concerts, and therefore is statistically certain to have some hearing loss

One two-hour show is typically not enough to cause  measurable,  permanent hearing loss.  Temporary threshold shift?  Sure.  But a couple days later, the hearing nearly always recovers.  And, as you pointed out, there's the fact that she's an adult, and has had a life full of noise, disease, medications, aging, etc. that causes hearing loss that is indistinguishable from the loss caused by an intense concentration of noise from a single concert.

I disagree, and a two hour show at 115 dB SPL is certainly enough to cause permanent hearing loss. OSHA's limit at that level is 15 minutes per day.

Have people lost hearing from a single concert?  Sure.  But the fact that no lawyer will continue her case suggests to me that she has no case.

In order to have a reasonable case, she has to have damages and a reasonable theory for negligence. If she shoved an ice pick into her ear, she could well be deaf, but no lawyer would take a case against Beiber because he didn't do anything. In this case, the biggest issue against her would be that she willingly assumed the risk by going to a concert that would be foreseeably loud. That's why no lawyer would take the case, not because she's not actually got tinnitus.

abhorrent1: My hearing is fine today AFAIK.

It's like boiling a frog. The loss is gradual enough that you don't know what you're missing.

Theaetetus

Her claim is not that hearing damage was from the speakers...it was the screaming tweens, and that JB encouraged them to be as loud as possible, this coupled by the thing he was in, acted as a directional amplifier.

frepnog: the damage done to my ears at the aerosmith concert was noticeable and immediate.

The loudest noise I have ever heard was a Metallica concert.  I wore ear plugs and my ears still rung afterwards.

A close second would be Rancid in a tiny performance space...maybe 300, 400 people tops  Fun note - easily the scariest mosh pit I have ever seen in my life.