EU to pipers - Pipe down

[Coemgen]

As Milton Friedman said, “The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.”

[Coemgen]

It is just a different approach, IMHO. In Europe, the attitude is to protect people from bad stuff happening, whereas in the US it appears to be to compensate them (or encourage litigation) when bad stuff happens. European employers have a duty of care to their employees, US employers have a desire to avoid being sued. I personally would prefer the bad stuff not to happen to me (in this case damaged hearing) than to get a wodge of money after the fact but that is probably my European cultural background :-)

I think we should just let people do what they want, and let natural selection take care of the rest. Don't want to wear a seat belt? YOU won't be contributing to the gene pool for much longer!

[Beertigger]

Ahhh, but there are musicians earplugs that you can wear while tuning and playing. Surefire sonic defenders are all that would be required.

Not only that, but surely even a terrible piper can manage to be somewhat in tune after 15 minutes?

I've found tuning w/ earplugs difficult, but playing - not so much. It takes some getting used to, but it's certainly possible. I'm not a piper, but I don't think that they're such a special instrument that what's easy enough while singing and playing anything else can't be done.

Losing your hearing, tinnitus, etc isn't something to trifle w/

Eh, what's that?......

[SteveB]

This sounds like another gouvernment pogrom to effect a solution that is far worse than the problem it is intended to solve.

[sharpdressedscot]

Blowing it out of proportion?

[thanmuwa]

This sounds like another gouvernment pogrom to effect a solution that is far worse than the problem it is intended to solve.

How would the solution
(ie preserving the hearing of potentially large numbers of people who have to work in noisy environments along with a minute chance of requiring a small handful of pipers to have 5 minutes more of a break)

be worse than the problem
(large numbers of people having hearing problems eg tinnitus or going deaf)?

[Arlen]

I have to agree with Daz, here.
I've seen the actual legislation itself and it isn't very clear about anything.
Distances, whether or not this counts in public places or private, whether or not it is intended for the protection of compelled staff or just for people in general.

This kind of legislation really needs to be more balanced.
I make a point of not reading any papers or articles which do too much complaining and not enough honest investigation, but the legislation itself is as bad as the article makes out.

As far as I'm concerned, the average person isn't going to get any hearing damage by listening to a piper.
And if they CHOOSE to be in a job where they are exposed to loud pipes often, they can CHOOSE to wear earplugs.

[beloitpiper]

Legislation like this is upsetting. Seat belts, earplugs, unhealthy food etc. are a personal choices and do not affect others. I mean, I wear my seat belt, use ear plugs, and avoid unhealthy food, but I should still have the choice. Now, I agree with smoking regulation, because that affects people around you, but if a piper wants to play w/o earplugs and ruin his own ears who's to stop him?

Keep your laws off my body.

[JS Sanders]

Beertigger,
If you're using the all-purpose foam earplug, then tuning can indeed be difficult. Those really cut into the high hand range. They have a very high Noise Reduction Rating, but higher frequencies really get muffled.

At this site, http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/gennoisprot1.html , I've bought their SilentEar. It has wonderful attenuation at all the pipes' frequencies. And their NRR is 32 decibels, equivalent to foam plugs.

And far easier to shove into your ear holes. I have some that are over two years old too, with no signs of wear.

Also, the Hearos Rock 'n Roll series are rated at 26 decibels, comfortable, and have very good attenuation. Less expensive too.

Be wary of plugs made by Etymotic. They claim 20 decibels, but they arrive at that with some sorta convoluted formula. The actual NRR is 12, which really isn't sufficient for the GHB. The Etymotics do have excellent sound attenuation and are far better than nothing. Compare side-by-side with any ear plug actually rated NRR 20 and the difference is staggering.

I find its easier to tune my pipes with either of these plugs - seems to negate extraneous noise. For me there was no learning or adjustment curve.

Slainte yall,
steve

[Beertigger]

This sounds like another gouvernment pogrom to effect a solution that is far worse than the problem it is intended to solve.

No pun intended, I hope? ;)