I have been thinking for some time that a sound meter might be a good idea. There has been some recent Press comment about youngsters having their hearing permanently damaged through visiting loud 'rock' concerts (I use the term 'rock' loosely).

Having young children in these venues surely constitutes child abuse? I've seen them placed near the speakers while mummy dances the night away! In contrast to the nonsense H&S issues that I've known local councils and the police expend time on - here is a serious issue.

It is certainly true that the location of measurement is important. The sound desk can be some distance from speakers and some distance from where dancers need to be (even if they didn't start the dance near the speakers). So the logical place for the legal maximum is a location where people may need to be even if they didn't start out there. I saw sound level meters at Bulverton some years ago - on the sound desk maybe 5 or 7 metres from the nearest speakers.

Time for a few measurments maybe?

Any advice anyone can give re: the legal framework for this would be appreciated. Do the maxima in these venues apply only to 'workers' (including stewards? My friends and I (all good dancers) are becoming rather tired of having to select ceilidhs on the basis of which might not be too loud for any sane person to enjoy.

I can well recall (and it is somewhere on my website) the morons from East Devon District Council who measured sound levels in the winter along the A3052 (when there was no traffic) in order to extrapolate these to peak summer conditions. I can even recall walking past one of these dolts sitting in a garden - I asked him what he was doing - SHHHH he said - we're measuring sound levels of the road. Not a car in sight mind.

Morons? Yep. Science graduates? Yep.