Organiser's knowledge and opinion towards the Flemish legislation of noise exposure at music festivals

Purpose During leisure-time activities, young people expose themselves regularly to sound levels that may hamper the auditory system. In Flanders (Belgium), there is a noise legislation for indoor and outdoor music venues whereby a distinction is made into three categories of maximum allowable sound levels and accompanying measures. The aim of the current study was to investigate the knowledge and personal opinion of organisers of music festivals regarding this noise legislation. Methods An online questionnaire was answered by 36 music festival organisers. Results In general, the categories of (non-)classified facilities with maximum allowable sound levels and accompanying measures were not well known by the respondents. Most respondents were moderately prepared to apply the noise legislation at music festivals and most of them indicated the noise legislation is moderately financially feasible and very logistically feasible. The correctness of the answers to some knowledge questions was significantly different between the degree of being informed, the perception of intelligibility of the received information, and the financial and logistical feasibility of the noise legislation. Conclusions Compliance with the noise legislation at music venues should be further investigated, along with a refreshing of the information that was made available to increase knowledge and awareness of the risks of noise exposure among organisers of music events