Culture and Practice
The following content is sourced from an international audio engineering culture survey conducted between April and May 2020 as part of the author's PhD study with 98 participants on 'Audio Engineer Choice, Mixing Hearing Management with Live Sound Culture' and published in the following:
Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
Compton, S. J. (2022). Managing the Audio Engineer’s Most Essential Critical Listening Tool. J Audio Eng Soc, 70(4), 305–318. https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2021.0065 - Link
International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology
- Compton, S.J. (2023) Live-Sound Pressure That Is Not Measured In Decibels.
- Int J Appl Posit Psychol https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-023-00112-7 - Link
An easy-reading summary:
Live Sound Handbook
Live Sound Handbook - A summary of Live Sound Culture and Hearing Management research in digestible form. Link
Volunteer vs Professional:
- 15% are volunteer audio engineers,
- 32% are professional engineers
- 53% are both volunteer and professional engineers.
Audio engineer experience:
- 38% had < 20 years experience,
- 5% had 16-20 years,
- 13% had 11-13 years,
- 25% had 6-10 years.
Musicianship:
75% of audio engineers play an instrument, perform, compose, or arrange music
Education:
58% of audio engineers have had some formal audio engineer education. Of those who have had formal education, the highest qualification these engineers have attained is:
- 31% Certificate / Diploma,
- 46% Degree,
- 11% Honours / Masters,
- 4% PhD,
- 7.5% Other
Personal Hearing:
91% of audio engineers have considered the impact of hearing impairment. 17% of audio engineers have never had a hearing test. 54% of audio engineers reported they had noticed challenges to personal hearing that could affect critical listening. Of these:
- 61% High-frequency loss,
- 57% Tinnitus,
- 4% Diplacusis,
- 40% Reduced ability to hear speech in noisy environments,
- 44% Age-related high-frequency loss,
- 21% Other hearing issues.
Noise Exposure:
The number of days per week audio engineers are exposed to levels beyond WHO recommendations :
- 0 days - 24%,
- 1 day - 32%,
- 2 days - 11%,
- 3 days - 14%,
- 4 days - 11%,
- 5 days - 3%,
- 6 days - 1%,
- 7 days - 4%.
Live-Sound Hearing Management
77.9% of audio engineers believe the live-sound industry should make a concerted push to address noise exposure, improve hearing safety, and hearing longevity of participants.
18.2% of audio engineers believe it is a good idea but doubt it is possible.
10.4% of audio engineers believe the live-sound industry could not be reconditioned to a safer lower average SPL over time.
18.2% of audio engineers believe it is a good idea but doubt it is possible.
10.4% of audio engineers believe the live-sound industry could not be reconditioned to a safer lower average SPL over time.
