I’m sure each and every one of you has, more than once, heard a complaint about “that darn kid” that needs to turn his music down.  It may have even been directed at you.  In response, you could have done several things.  You may have turned the music down until you were in another part of town.  You may have just ignored them.  Or, as I’m pretty sure you’ve done at least once, you turned it up just a little louder as you were driving away.

The problem with this is the negative image that it gives the rest of the world.  As with most things, there is a time and place where cranking the volume is acceptable and expected.  At the stoplight in the center of town, coming into your neighborhood, passing the local high school – these aren’t the places to be doing it.

Not only is it disrespectful, in a number of locations throughout the country, the volume at which you “enjoy” your music is unlawful.  In the city of Miami, your music being heard 100 feet from your vehicle is considered prima facie evidence of your criminal activity.

In Boston, anything over 70 dBa is considered illegal, coming from any source at any hour.  Further, it is also illegal here for your music to be heard 100 feet from your vehicle.  In Kansas City, 60 dBa or greater in a residential district is a violation of the city’s ordinances and in commercial districts 80 dBa or greater is unlawful.

Similar noise ordinances are in effect throughout much of the country.  There are very few municipalities in which you will find that no noise ordinance exists whatsoever. 

Due to those who choose to disrespect their neighbors, coworkers, and fellow drivers, those who aren’t so careless are being lumped together under the same stereotype.  In St. Louis, Missouri, where noise ordinances do exist but apparently are not sufficiently being enforced, aldermen have tried to pass even more stringent rules including banning certain sizes of speakers and their installation. 

We need to be responsible listeners.  If we don’t, we will forever be labeled as cultural offenders as we continue to pollute the airspace with our sound waves. 

So many people continue to ask why we can’t pick up outside corporate sponsorship like race car drivers and motocross riders.  Think of the people in charge of setting the budgets and advertisements for those companies.  Have you ever stopped to think that if you were to tell them what it is that you want to be sponsored to do that perhaps you or someone like you has sat next to them at a stoplight and cranked it?  Maybe they live on a street where a 17-year old kid comes home every night after work at 10:30, rattling their windows as he drives by.  This negative image stays with them.

Overall, the point is that we need to be responsible listeners.  We need to prove to society that some of us do this as a hobby and are not careless and disrespectful as we’re seen now. 

The best way to do that, of course, is to avoid turning up the volume at stoplights, in residential neighborhoods, and virtually everywhere except at competitions.  Your neighbor shouldn’t know you have an aftermarket stereo unless it comes up in a conversation. At a competition, whether local or sanctioned, is the time and place for seeing just how loud you are.  It’s a matter of discretion, but it needs to be used wisely so we can begin being seen in a positive way instead of keeping the negative stereotype that is decades old.

Maybe then we will actually see more media exposure.  We won’t be just the boom cars targeted by internet bulletin boards any longer.  People will begin to see the time, effort, money, and dedication it takes to build some of the loudest cars on the planet.  They will see that there is actually a science to building the perfect box, harboring sufficient voltage, and calculating frequencies in a car to achieve the highest SPL possible.  They will see that we work just as hard as the motocrossers and race car drivers and that our final rounds can be exciting, too.

Aside from the negative stereotype Joe Schmoe’s giving us for being the one that turns up the volume and drives away, the hearing damage that you’re doing to yourself (and perhaps others) is another great reason to listen carefully and respectfully.  An upcoming article will discuss hearing loss, its permanency, its symptoms, and its causes.  Until then, you can just take my word for it that you don’t want to experience tinnitus and one of the best ways to avoid it is to avoid exposure to loud music!

~Tara Orozco

  April 15, 2006