Stacey Wilson Betts, is claiming all those screams from the crowd left her with permanent hearing loss — to the tune of $9.2 million! In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Betts claims that after attending a Bieber concert with her daughter in July 2010, she suffered ringing in the ears and hypersensitivity to sound.
I'm no fan of the Bieb. I'm not a Bieb hater either. I just don't know much about the Bieb's music. I'm not sure I could even identify one of his songs if I heard it. I am, shall we say, a little older than his typical fan demographic. I suppose that tween and teen girls do need something or someone to obsess about so why not a young male singer - even if he sometimes looks a little like a girl.
This women suing for millions seems not to understand the simple, obvious truth - that concerts are often loud. In this case, the noise was generated by the crowd, not the performers. Maybe she should sue the audience?
High sound volume is a foreseeable occurrence at any large gathering such as concerts, sporting events, monster truck pulls, etc. She could have covered her ears when the volume became bothersome. She could have brought ear plugs. Even makeshift earplugs made from cotton balls could provide noticeable noise reduction. If she thought she was being exposed to a harmful level of noise, she had a duty (to herself) to cover her ears. Or to just simply leave. Why didn't she?
The way I see it, if you're standing on the railroad tracks and you notice that a run away train happens to be barreling down those same tracks, then you have a responsibility to step off the tracks to protect yourself. If you choose not to take even the simplest steps to protect yourself from clear danger, then it's at least partly you own fault when you get hurt. No wait, in this case, it would be completely your fault. Trains are meant to drive on railroad tracks - you stand on the tracks at your own risk.
Concerts are meant to produce sound - often loud sounds. If it's uncomfortablly loud and you do nothing, it's your fault. Can her daughter still hear? What about the other concert goers? I haven't heard that they are lining up to sue. If the noise was at such a dangerous volume why have we not heard many similar complaints from other audience members?
Can she say how loud the concert was? How loud it was at her precise seating (or standing) location? Did she have an audio engineer standing by with a decibel meter in the seat next to her? Has this engineer provided a notarized affidavit stating the 'a weighted' sound pressure level that she was exposed to during the concert?
I didn't think so.
If she can't actually say how much sound energy she was exposed to, it will be difficult to prove that this one concert event damaged her hearing.
Did she have any previous hearing loss? Can she prove the status of her hearing prior to the concert? Maybe she had some preexisting hearing loss. Most people do experience some decline in hearing threshold with age. If an audiologist tests her hearing now, how could we know that she isn't faking hearing loss?
Is she regularly exposed to other sources of noise that might contribute to gradual hearing loss? Maybe she loves to cook and uses a really loud food processor. A lawn mower? An I pod turned way up? Highway driving in a convertible? A noisy vacuum cleaner? Paper spreader?
If this case ever makes it to trial, they won't want me on the jury. Well, maybe Justin Bieber would.
Acoustic reflex
noise exposure whitepaper
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