Sleeping
Concerts
Motorcycle
Swimming
Work
Kids
On stage
In the studio
Rehearsals
Writing music
Mixing at home
Daily commute
Long journeys
Listening at home⏱️ Estimated reading time: 13 min
On this page: Overview
Key Takeaways
How loud are stadiums and cinemas? Loud enough that the question needs two answers. A full football match averaged 100.5 dBA across 90 minutes in one dosimeter study, which the NIOSH limit turns into about 15 minutes of safe time. A whole film usually stays within the daily limit, even when one explosion makes you flinch.
At Bollsen we make reusable hearing protection trusted by 1,000,000+ people, and the venues we get asked about most are not concerts but Saturday matches, loud films and spin classes. Fans at the loudest grounds admit they pull their earplugs out once the match gets going. That is the wrong way round.
Hearing protection comes up a lot in conversations about tinnitus, so our overview of earplugs for tinnitus explains the one job earplugs do, lowering the noise dose that reaches the inner ear. This page is about the venues: how loud they get, how long is safe and which plug suits which seat.
How loud is a football stadium?
A football stadium averages around 100 dBA over a full match, with momentary peaks near 140 dB(C), according to a 2010 South African dosimeter study of ten spectators at a Premier Soccer League match (Swanepoel and Hall), and the NIDCD guide to noise-induced hearing loss puts sporting events at 94 to 110 dBA.
The two numbers are not measuring the same thing. The average, measured as LAeq, is the level your ears sit in for 90 minutes and decides the noise dose. The peak is a one-second roar at a goal, and the Guinness World Record crowd roar of 142.2 dBA at Arrowhead Stadium in September 2014 is that kind of reading, not the level of the stadium.
Other grounds land in the same band: Barnard and colleagues (2011) recorded maximum 10-second averages of 109 to 114 dB across three college football games. The South African study also measured a temporary dip in hearing thresholds at 2 kHz after the match.
Music SoundPRO★ 4.8 · 514 reviews
Watersafe+★ 4.8 · 684 reviews
Life+★ 4.7 · 3,700 reviewsLife+★ 4.7 · 3,700 reviewsMusic SoundPRO★ 4.8 · 514 reviewsWatersafe+★ 4.8 · 684 reviewsLife+★ 4.7 · 3,700 reviewsHow loud is an indoor arena?
An indoor arena is often louder than an open stadium because the roof keeps the sound in: in a 2006 study of ice hockey arena noise in CMAJ, Hodgetts and Liu measured game averages of 100.7 to 104.1 dB at three Stanley Cup final games and found fans reached a full daily noise dose in under six minutes.
That is roughly 8,100 per cent of a daily dose per game without protection. Arenas host gigs too, but those sit with our music guides rather than here.
For arena events we point people to our transparent Music SoundPRO, made for concerts and festivals and rated SNR 24 dB. You still hear the atmosphere, just quieter.
Are cinemas too loud?
Cinemas are usually not too loud across a whole film: a UK MRC Institute of Hearing Research study of four films (Ferguson, Davis and Lovell, 2000) found whole-film averages below 80 dB(A), with levels above 90 dB(A) adding up to no more than two minutes, while NIDCD gives 74 to 104 dBA as the range for a movie theatre.
A US study of 117 measurements across ten venues (Huth, Popelka and Blevins, 2014) found much the same: levels within occupational limits, action films louder than children’s films, and levels falling with distance from the screen.
So for cinemas the question is comfort, not dose. A 104 dBA scene would reach the NIOSH limit in about six minutes, but peaks last seconds. If trailers and loud mixes make you wince, earplugs rated SNR 24 dB such as our Life+ take the edge off, and dialogue stays easy to follow because speech in a cinema mix is loud. Sit further back, and put them in before the adverts.
How loud is a spin class or HIIT session?
A spin class averages 93 to 101 dBC according to a 2021 study of 18 indoor cycling classes in Noise & Health (Lee and colleagues), and a 2017 Boston study of 17 classes (Sinha and colleagues, The Laryngoscope) clocked 31.6 minutes above 100 dBA in a 49-minute class, with a peak of 116.7 dBA.
One 45-minute class in the Boston study came to 8.95 times the NIOSH daily dose. Other formats are quieter: Beach and Nie (2014) measured 100 fitness classes in Australia and found high-intensity classes averaging 93.1 dB(A), about 75 minutes of NIOSH time.
In the 2021 study, cutting the music by 3 dB did not change how intense riders rated the workout. At the louder end of the range, riders were 23 times more likely to call it too loud, so asking the instructor for a notch down is fair enough.
In the same study, 25.9 per cent of the 213 riders surveyed reported ringing or muffled hearing after a class. Those are signs the ear has had too much, and our guide to ringing in your ears after loud noise explains the usual timeline. If ringing lingers or keeps coming back, the NHS tinnitus page explains when to see a GP, Tinnitus UK runs a helpline on 0800 018 0527, and RNID is another good first stop.
How long is it safe to stay at each level?
NIOSH, the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, sets a recommended exposure limit of 85 dBA averaged over 8 hours with a 3 dB exchange rate, so every 3 dB more halves the safe time: 94 dBA gives 1 hour, 97 dBA 30 minutes, 100 dBA 15 minutes and 110 dBA about 90 seconds (CDC NIOSH, 2024).
The dose adds up across the day, so 15 minutes at 100 dBA uses the whole allowance. The WHO global standard for safe listening venues and events (March 2022) asks venues to keep the average under 100 dB LAeq over any 15 minutes, make hearing protection available to audiences and provide quiet zones, though it is voluntary.
In the UK, the HSE’s Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 set action values of 80 and 85 dB(A) and a limit of 87 dB(A) for staff, including entertainment venues since April 2008. They do not cover you in the stands, so protecting your own ears there is your call.
The table puts each venue’s typical average next to the NIOSH safe time at that level; the full decibel chart with safe times is in our guide to how loud is too loud.
| Venue | Typical level (source) | NIOSH safe time at that level | Protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Football stadium, full match | About 100 dBA average, peaks near 140 dB(C) (Swanepoel and Hall, 2010); NIDCD 94–110 dBA | About 15 min at 100 dBA; 1 h at 94, 90 s at 110 | Life+ (SNR 24 dB), in before kick-off |
| Indoor arena (ice hockey, basketball, arena events) | 100.7–104.1 dB game averages (Hodgetts and Liu, 2006) | About 13 min down to about 6 min | Music SoundPRO earplugs for concerts and festivals (SNR 24 dB); you still hear the atmosphere, just quieter. For gigs in the same venues, see how loud are concerts. |
| Cinema, whole film | Below 80 dB(A) average (Ferguson, Davis and Lovell, 2000); NIDCD 74–104 dBA | Within the daily limit; 104 dBA would allow about 6 min, but peaks last seconds | Optional, for comfort in loud scenes: Life+ earplugs (SNR 24 dB, £29.95); sit further from the screen |
| Spin class | 93.2–101 dBC averages (Lee and colleagues, 2021); 31.6 min above 100 dBA per class (Sinha and colleagues, 2017) | About 15 min at 100 dBA; one class is close to 9 times a daily dose | Life+ (SNR 24 dB); ask for the music 3 dB lower |
| HIIT or other high-intensity class | 93.1 dB(A) average (Beach and Nie, 2014) | About 75 min | Life+ (SNR 24 dB) for sessions over an hour |
Which earplugs suit a match, a film or a class?
A passive earplug rated SNR 24 dB suits all three venues, because their averages sit between about 93 and 104 dBA and a 24 dB rating brings that range below the 85 dBA line where NIDCD says long or repeated exposure starts to carry risk, provided the plug seals properly.
Our Life+ earplugs are passive, two-lamella plugs in hypoallergenic silicone, German-tested and independently certified at SNR 24 dB (H 24 / M 21 / L 19), and good for up to 100 uses each. Attenuation rises with frequency, about 22 dB in the lows and 35 dB at 8 kHz, so the sharpest sounds are cut most.
A pair costs £29.95 and two pairs £44.95, which clears the £35 threshold for free UK delivery; a single pack does not. The version with AI ear measurement from two photos is £44.95 and ships the size picked from your ear photos, because a plug that does not seal gives far less than its rating. Both carry a 40-day money-back guarantee.
Our guide to how much hearing protection do I need walks through picking an SNR for your noise level and the time you spend in it. For a match, a film or a class, SNR 24 dB is enough.
How do you keep the atmosphere with earplugs in?
You keep the atmosphere because a 100 dBA crowd is still loud through a 24 dB earplug. What matters is timing: put them in before kick-off, the trailers or the first track, not once it has already got loud.
One Seahawks supporter told a reporter in 2014 they took theirs out after getting caught up in the passion. Insert them while the ground is still filling, and the roar when it comes is the same roar, a few notches down. If you have to shout to be heard by the person next to you, the level is worth protecting against. Our guide to how to tell if it’s too loud covers phone apps and the other signs.
Motorsport is a different problem, engine noise rather than crowd noise, and sits outside this guide. Children’s ears need stricter limits than adults’, so if you are taking the family, read our guide to kids’ ear protection at events first. The pub afterwards is its own story, covered in our guide to how loud pubs, restaurants and weddings are.
A football match averages about 100 dBA, roughly 15 minutes of safe time by the NIOSH limit, and an indoor arena can be louder still. A spin class sits above 100 dBA for half the session, while a whole film usually stays within the daily limit, so cinema earplugs are about comfort rather than dose.
Earplugs do one job in all of these places: they limit the noise exposure reaching your ears. They do not undo anything already done, and ringing that lingers after an event is one for a GP or audiologist. Put a pair in before the noise starts, sit further from the source, and the atmosphere is still there, just quieter.
His connection to hearing protection stems from personal experience with sound sensitivity during live events and work in noisy environments, an issue that made him more aware of the long-term risks of unmanaged noise exposure. Today, as both a communicator and a user of BOLLSEN products, he is passionate about raising awareness around the importance of proactive hearing care.
At BOLLSEN, he develops data-driven marketing campaigns, writes SEO-focused articles, and manages communication channels that connect customers with practical knowledge about hearing protection. His work ensures that BOLLSEN’s message—prioritizing health, performance, and sustainability reaches a global audience in an engaging and trustworthy way.
Passionate about writing since childhood, Timotej combines creativity with a strong analytical approach, continuously testing new ideas in digital marketing, performance advertising, and social media. He believes in learning through innovation and collaboration, balancing leadership with openness to new perspectives.
Beyond his professional role, Timotej is committed to a healthy lifestyle and finds inspiration in fitness, sports, and quality time with friends. His personal passion for well-being aligns with BOLLSEN’s core values, making his work not only a career but also a cause he deeply believes in.