Organisers of folk festivals have many difficult decisions to make and the provision of sound at festivals obviously plays a big part in ensuring the success of their event. Getting the sound right will be almost every organisers first thought.

I don't think that anyone would imagine that organisers set out to make their customers deaf; this would be a self defeating objective. Voices and acoustic instruments do not carry far in large venues and finding the best possible way of creating enough volume for everyone to hear has been a problem for hundreds of years (that's is why orchestras are so big).

Amplifying sound electronically has been the answer for a hundred years or so and this system has improved dramatically over recent years. However amplification has its problems and subjecting the human ear to excessive sound for long periods is obviously dangerous. How excessive and for how long is a matter guidance from others. There are other factors which also come into play and like everything else with human kind, tolerance to sound and how badly it may affect people can and will vary. And the way people subject themselves to sound must also be taken into account, if you stand with your ear in a bass bin for three hours your hearing will definitely suffer.

The only option that an organiser has to deliver sound at a festival is the current method of amplification. So they should either refrain from organising an event because everything is so dangerous, or attempt to mitigate the problems by employing the best sound contractors and ensuring that they recognise any danger and provide the best equipment. There are many other factors involved in providing sound, the requirements of the artist, the legal requirements of the environmental health department, and the many and varied wishes of the audience.

Perhaps some clever electronics engineer will come up with the answer. In future we may all be wearing in-ear devices so that we can all determine the volume, the shape and the mix ourselves. A clever person with enough drive and commitment could make a lot of money by developing such a device. Of course he would have to be a businessman.