'twas normal by a decade later - although ISTR references to gun-deck crews in the Napoleonic War period stuffing oakum in their ears, which indicates the problem was known a century and a half earlier. Haven't been able to track down a reasonably authoritative source for it so far, and can't recall where I first heard about it.
As for 'music', yeah, tell me about it. I remember walking across the floor in a uni gym with a band going to town on stage: your gut could literally _feel_ the interference fringes set up by the bass towers. Given that the event was the 1979 Undergraduate Physics Conference, one would have thought the phenomenon would have attracted a lot of attention, but no...
John Prigent wrote:I was Regular Army 1959-62. No hearing protection of any kind was even thought of. Which is probably why I have difficulty hearing some frequencies now.
But if Safehold ever gets to 'music' festivals and amplifiers they'll have a generation of deaf kids before they know it's happening.
Cheers
John