The sound of drumming for traditional Taiko drumming and lion dance

Abstract

Drumming is an important part of traditional performances in different cultures around the world. Taiko drumming, the drumming with lion dance and the related instruments for traditional cultural performances, can produce sounds loud enough to potentially damage the hearing. In this study the sound track and the sound levels of a typical Taiko performance in Hiroshima, traditional lion dance performances with drumming and other accompanying musical instruments in a school and a shopping mall in Singapore, as well as a traditional drumming performance in a school concert hall were recorded and analyzed to assess the potential sound exposure. For both lion dance performances, the A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level with slow time response (LASeq) was found to be below 87dBA and a half an hour performance was not likely to infringe the The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) standard. On the other hand, the half an hour of Taiko drumming performance may hit the recommended exposure level (REL) from NIOSH with LASeq of 97dBA. Both the Taiko drumming and lion dance performances were found to have significant low frequency content with the C-weighted sound levels higher than the corresponding A-weighted sound levels. The idea of using a calibrated smartphone for assessing the sound levels of drumming and traditional lion dance performance is that it can be carried out at any time and any location with the encountering of a drumming performance without the need for pre-preparation of sound measurement equipment.