The cabinet is going to look into maximum noise standards at concerts and festivals. There will also be a focus on better monitoring of this. The use of custom-made earplugs remains necessary.
It has already been shown that hearing damage is a growing problem. Especially among young people. Although this would have been preventable in most cases, very little is being done about it. One could, for example, set a limit for the maximum number of decibels, but not everyone adheres to it. This while in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland have established official regulations for limit values.
Anne Kuik of the CDA thinks the Netherlands should follow suit. This especially since, according to her, more than 90% of the nightlife audience appears to have a ringing in their ears and hearing is nothing to be ignored. Which we can certainly agree with.
However, when the study will be ready is not yet clear. In any case, we think it is already a good step forward. After all, the noise standard festivals are still difficult to map out but new legislation may improve this.
By the way, the government is not the only one concerned with hearing damage. VeiligheidNL is also actively engaged in the prevention of hearing damage. They published a study in cooperation with the Dutch Hearing Foundation and had a campaign about hearing damage among young people. The difference, however, is that the latter was not so much about the noise standard festivals, but focused on the use of headphones and the like.
Whatever is decided, it is always advisable to take action yourself. In fact, experts indicate that wearing hearing protection while going out is very wise. Should you now consider wearing earplugs, here is more to read around the options.
