environment is a safe and healthy one. Don’t work hard to improve
physical health at the expense of your hearing health.
Here are some tips to help you deliver great workouts without
causing hearing damage to yourself or participants:
• Measure your noise levels. The facility you work in may invest in
equipment such as the SoundEar, or you may download a
smartphone app that gives accurate noise level readings.
• Consider how many classes are taught each day and by whom
– share the dose load to keep everyone safe.
• Use this table to work out the safe noise limit for your classes.
Noise level (LAeq)
Maximum Daily Exposure Duration
85 dB
8 hours
88 dB
4 hours
91 dB
2 hours
94 dB
1 hour
97 dB
½ hour
• Mark the safe volume on your sound system and stick to it!
• If you are the group exercise manager or facility operator,
conduct regular audits – maybe once every three months.
Make sure instructors are part of the process and make
adjustments if you need to.
• Experiment with tempo, visual stimuli and volume variation to get
your clients moving and keep them motivated.
• Talk with your clients and explain any changes and why you’re
making them. Get feedback from all your clients – not just those
who are the most vocal!
Remember, your hearing health is in your hands. By turning it
down a notch, not only will you avoid hearing damage, you’ll also be
better meeting the needs of your clients, and ensuring a truly healthy
environment for all gym users.
What does Les Mills say?
Regarding volume in classes, Michelle Dean, training manager at Les Mills
Asia Pacific, says:
‘When it comes to the volume of music within a club, this is something that
is managed between the instructor and the club. If anyone is unsure about what
the optimal volume should be, we recommend SoundEar – a tool that enables
a club to measure and manage the noise level within their gym environment.’
‘Through ongoing education of our Instructors we teach them the
importance of using their voice correctly – warming up, not shouting and
how to deliver an amazing workout vocally without damaging their vocal
cords. In addition to this, we educate them around the importance of a
microphone and how to use it effectively when instructing classes.’
Elizabeth Beach is a researcher at the National Acoustic Laboratories. She began
working in the area of hearing loss prevention after completing her PhD in psychology.
Her main area of research is leisure noise, its contribution to overall noise exposure
and how it might be affecting our hearing acuity. [email protected]
AT LAST - A LOW COST LOUDNESS MONITOR!
Know how loud it is in every studio.
Fitness Audio have just released their LM-30 Loudness Monitor
called “The Trigger”. It measures the ambient noise level in any
area like a group fitness studio. There are two multi-coloured bars
to show how loud it is - 3 red LEDs means it’s at the max. Mount it
on a wall between loudspeakers and set it at a level from 79dB to
109dB in 3 dB steps in either “A” or “C” weighting. Connect it to a
power point for just a visual loudness display. Or, link it with CAT
5 cable to our SPL2.2 Sound Pressure Limiter - “The Gov^nor”, not
only to power it but also to send a signal that tells the limiter to
cut in because it’s too loud! The Trigger and The Gov^nor working together all day long will keep the sound at a predetermined level. This is just what all club owners need
Combo
to save on amp and speaker repairs and keep members
and neighbours happy.
Price
$297*ly
*LM30
on
$792
PANTONE 165 C
PANTONE 661 C
A