Younger Cruiseers....... Those in Their Twenties and Thirties

[iceman93]

My wife and I are in our 30's and have never noticed "deafeningly loud" music in any of the venues on HAL ships. It occurs to me that, given how sensitive HAL is to guest comments and feedback, that if the volume is being cranked up it must be because the "floating nursing home" guests need it that loud in order to hear the music at all! ;- )

[ybarber]

My wife and I are in our 30's and have never noticed "deafeningly loud" music in any of the venues on HAL ships. It occurs to me that, given how sensitive HAL is to guest comments and feedback, that if the volume is being cranked up it must be because the "floating nursing home" guests need it that loud in order to hear the music at all! ;- )

 

You might be in trouble.......hold on to your hat!

[jhannah]

It occurs to me that ...if the volume is being cranked up it must be because the "floating nursing home" guests need it that loud in order to hear the music at all! ;- )

Eh???

[tooalto]

As someone who has been singing in various church and school choirs plus as an adult for nearly 55 of my 62 years I must say it's not just the HAL Cats who are way overdoing the volume. Just try to watch American Idol, America's Got Talent or virtually any pop entertainer. Who gets the most applause? The singer who screams the loudest. Most of them are not trained vocally and use all sorts of electronic tricks to mask poor voices. As one very respected choral director said "never louder than lovely".

[RuthC]

It occurs to me that, given how sensitive HAL is to guest comments and feedback, that if the volume is being cranked up it must be because the "floating nursing home" guests need it that loud in order to hear the music at all! ;- )

Except that it's the "floating nursing home" guests who are doing the complaining that the volume is too loud. It's the younger folks who can't hear it that way---they've already lost some of their own hearing.

[sail7seas]

I think Ruth has a point. The younger folks have listened to screeching loud music so much they are the ones with the hearing deficiencies. Most older folks can't bear it....... we can still hear it!

 

And what is with this Nursing Home bit......... If some of the seniors were as incapacitated as implied, well, they would be in nursing homes and not climbing on airplances, flying all over here and there and cruising to every corner of the world. Doesn't sound much like any nursing home I've heard of. Senior does not automatically = feeble, deaf and near dead.

 

[sail7seas]

sorry - double

]

[madelinerose]

While I have only "experienced" Leena and the Hal Cats on You Tube a few minutes ago, I can say for certain that DH and I would leave the area as soon as they started to set up, volume or no volume. It was a brief but painful experience, imo. :D

[elycelynne]

Whenever the car next to me is drowning out what's coming out of my radio (with my windows closed :eek:), I always want to drown them out with a Kate Smith recording. :D Too bad I can't.

 

(for those of you too young to know, Kate Smith was a singer in the long ago.)

 

Couldn't you just roll down your window and make your presence known with your own rousing rendition of "God Bless America"? ;) (I'm sure that wasn't her only hit, but it's the only thing I know that she was best known for.)

[Laurie S.]

I have no hearing loss, in fact, my hearing is excellent and I do not find the Hal Cats music deafeningly loud. However, remembering the problems my mother had with volume levels due to wearing hearing aids, I wonder if that is part of the problem with some of the older crowd. What was normal music levels or noise to me was painful to her because of the hearing aids.

[sail7seas]

No......... no hearing aids here. I'm grateful to have good hearing, just like you. :)

 

I think there's a problem in understanding that not all people over 55 are feeble. Many of us use the gym regularly. We jog and/or walk miles. Many kayak and zip line and use all terrain vehicles. They snorkle and scuba and dance. We aren't all as deteriorated and worn out as apparently some of the young 'uns :) seem to think.

 

We have home gyms, bicycles, and play sports of all sorts.

Of course, not all over 55 year olds do that but not all 20 year olds do either.

 

I personally do not think the objection to very loud music on HAL has anything to do with hearing aids.... at least as applies to most of us.

 

[RuthC]

Nope. No hearing aid(s) for me, either. :D As a teen, I was not allowed to have my record player, or the TV, too loud. Later on, when I used earphones, I kept them at a comfortable level. Never used earbuds.

To have some people younger than the "geriatric generation" with no loss of hearing does not change the overall stats. That is, it's that somewhat younger group with more hearing loss than those older.

[bepsf]

We are cruisers of 33 and 38 years of age. With the exception of the show lounge and the disco/nightclub, I prefer the music never impede a conversation to the point one must yell to converse. It should always enhance the experience, not overtake.

 

Quite so!

[cruisemom42]

I have no comment on the HAL cats, having never heard them. But I am in the business of reading, writing, and editing information on medicine and health. There's a lot of misperception about hearing loss in older vs. younger people, and a lot of assumptions going on....

 

First of all, studies have shown that hearing loss in teens has increased from around 15% around 1990 to around 19% in the most recent study. That's a 4% increase and certainly it is concerning, but I think it is misguided to suggest that most younger people are experiencing hearing loss -- especially relative to older people.

 

About 33% of adults aged 60 and older experience age-associated hearing loss. This type of hearing loss keeps older people from hearing higher pitches (and leads some to think others are mumbling....), but also can lead to difficulty in focusing in on conversation when there is a moderate amount of ambient noise (like music or television).

 

Age-related hearing loss isn't typically related to listening to loud music -- it is the result of changes in the apparatus of the ear.

 

So.....while I'm quite sure everyone here over 50 will insist they have no hearing loss, the reality is that close to a third (or half by age 80) do.

[serendipity1499]

I'm no longer in my 20's & 30's but also not in the "almost dead" age just yet..:rolleyes:

My Hearing Loss started in my early 40's & by the time I was in my mid-50's, I wore hearing aids..I believe my early hearing loss was due to two things..First it was inherited..My Mother started to wear hearing aids in her 60's..

Second, when I was in my 20's & 30's, our office was above the departure lounge, at the International Arrivals/Departure wing at Kennedy Airport...We all took our lunches & breaks on the open observation deck behind our office..None of us ever wore ear protection when jets pulled in on the tarmac behind the office..We just stopped talking for a moment until the engines were shut down...I'm convinced that my acute hearing loss was brought on earlier because of that..

We don't sit by the Lido Pool when on board..No need, as live in Fla & prefer to watch the sea while enjoying the Promenade deck..

If we are in a venue, where the music is too loud, as it sometimes is in the show lounge, I can just remove my hearing aids & still have have a conversation while enjoying the toned down music..;)

 

That's one good thing about having hearing aids..;)

 

Cheers....:)Betty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

peIdelowildI used to

[penk99]

I'm 38 and my husband is 44. I can't remember a particular instance where the music made my ears bleed, but I can remember the times when the music was just bad. I have excellent hearing - so much so I have to wear earplugs to drown out DH's ear splitting snoring at night! :D

I think it varies from venue to venue on whether or not the music is too loud. Sometimes the acoustics in a particular place or your location in a particular room makes a big difference. Sometimes I'm in the mood to have loud music and other times it can give me a headache if I've had a long day.

Also, I think some people are just more sensitive to that type of sound. The human senses are a tricky thing. I know people who are also very sensitive to particular smells - becoming overcome or ill by someone's perfume or a food odor when it doesn't bother others in the least.

That being said, unfortunately you can't please everyone. I can always find a quiet place aboard a HAL ship if music bothers. Loud music would never make or break a cruise for me.