Disco Clubs Research Articles

Hearing loss prevention at loud music events via real-time visuo-haptic feedback

Hearing loss is becoming a global problem, partly as a consequence of exposure to loud music. People may be unaware about the harmful sound levels and consequent damages caused by loud music at venues such as discotheques or festivals. Earplugs are effective in reducing the risk of noise-induced hearing loss but have been shown to be an insufficient prevention strategy. Thus, when it is not possible to lower the volume of the sound source, a viable solution to the problem is to relocate to quieter locations from time to time. In this context, this study introduces a bracelet device with the goal of warning users when the music sound level is too loud in their specific location, via haptic, visual or visuo-haptic feedback. The bracelet embeds a microphone, a microcontroller, an LED strip and four vibration motors. We performed a user study where thirteen participants were asked to react to the three kinds of feedback during a simulated disco club event where the volume of music pieces varied to reach a loud intensity. Results showed that participants never missed the above threshold notification via all types of feedback, but visual feedback led to the slowest reaction times and was deemed the least effective. In line with the findings reported in the hearing loss prevention literature, the perceived usefulness of the proposed device was highly dependent on participants’ subjective approach to the topic of hearing risks at loud music events as well as their willingness to take action regarding its prevention. Ultimately, our study shows how technology, no matter how effective, may not be able to cope with these kinds of cultural issues concerning hearing loss prevention. Educational strategies may represent a more effective solution to the real problem of changing people’s attitudes and motivations to want to protect their hearing.

Pandemic disco

The COVID-19 crisis has brought unprecedented disruption to the social and economic status quo and has redefined music culture. The sudden shift from a collective to an exclusively private music experience has undoubtedly changed both the market and listening practices. Live shows and club culture have been suspended. However, while disco clubs remain closed, private apartments become the only possible dancefloor. Surprisingly, nostalgic disco albums have been very popular among listeners during the past coronavirus year. Artists like Dua Lipa, Jessie Ware, Róisín Murphy and Kylie Minogue have presented disco utopias that have carried the listeners into a world before pandemic. Although disco albums are full of joyful synthesizer sounds, they also resonate with trauma from the past. At their core we can find traces of another epidemic that never came to an end: the HIV/AIDS epidemic. My goal is to show continuity between musical responses to different pandemics and to interpret the side effects of the (pre) COVID disco nostalgia, which, while giving hope, reminds us that HIV/AIDS is not yet a closed case.

Students’ leisure consumption patterns in cities: Three-dimensional pictures from Lodz and Turin

Abstract The research conducted relates to university students’ leisure practices in urban settings. A three-dimensional framework to picture and analyse students’ leisure, focusing on its temporal, economic and spatial dimensions, is proposed. The analysis is based on empirical evidence from two European cities, namely Lodz, Poland and Turin, Italy. First, the findings show that students’ leisure consumption goes beyond visiting music and disco clubs, and it is oriented towards meeting at home, visiting pubs and cafés, and also shopping for non-daily products. Secondly, the geographies of the majority of students’ leisure activities do not spatially overlap with the places of their education and accommodation. Thirdly, the data obtained on students’ leisure consumption in Lodz and Turin reveal many similarities, despite the contextual differences between the two cities.

Research on Linguistic Landscape: Observing the Minute in the Bigger Picture

very new and fresh area where scholarly world is focusing its attention on is linguistic landscape. Linguistic landscape is ‘the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, place names, street names, commercial shop signs and public signs on government buildings of a given territory, region or urban agglomeration’ (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p.25). Linguistic landscape can be taken as observing the minute words present in the public space in the bigger picture of the landscape of an urban area. It is becoming an interesting phenomenon to uncover social realities. It can be used to observe and analyze the changing trends and discourses in a given territory. Research on linguistic landscape started in late 1970s and sped its pace from the year 2006 onwards and now has become a proper field of study in applied linguistics, having a total of more than three hundred research papers to date. Linguistic landscape has been used to analyze jargons and register of different types of institutions for example, a hospital, a disco club, a restaurant or a Church etc. It has been used to analyze the semiotics of a particular area. The study of linguistic landscape has shown which languages are popular in one area and which are getting abandoned in another area. It has also focused on the negative attitudes of people related to one language and positive perceptions linked with another language. This conceptual paper will trace its history and reach conclusions on how this thriving field of study can be further extended.

Waacking: A Shift from Gay Refusal to Gender Refusal

The medium of dance is most often valued in Western society for its artistry and great skill of movement. However, the beauty of this medium often overshadows its ability to create pointed, and often political, messages through the body’s kinesthetic movement in physical space. As embodied expression through time and space, dance must be understood as an art form that actively seeks to create meaning (Hellensleben 2010), a fact that is acutely evident in the dance form known as Waacking. Born out of improvisation-based techniques, Waacking originated in gay, Black and Latino underground disco clubs of 1970’s Los Angeles. The gestures of Waacking were inspired by classical Hollywood glamour actresses, culminating in the distinctive fast, rhythmic arm whipping typical of this dance style. Yet, it is the more performative elements of the dance that holds one’s interest by including components of large locomotion, dramatic gesture and facial expression, and a compelling narrative. This expressive style of movement resulted in Waacking becoming a catalyst for gay refusal, functioning as a method for gay men to express themselves and fully explore their identity. Through an analysis of personal experience and online videos in dialogue with the methodologies of embodiment, phenomenology, and performativity, I will explore how Waacking has shifted from a form of gay refusal to a form of gender refusal, allowing there to be a renegotiation of gender standards through the catalyst of black queer kinesthetics and gender kinesthetics.

In Search of a Second Chance: Channeling BMW V. Gore and Reconsidering Occupational Licensing Restrictions

In Search of a Second Chance: Channeling BMW V. Gore and Reconsidering Occupational Licensing Restrictions

Techniques of black male re/dress: corporeal drag and kinesthetic politics in the rebirth of Waacking/Punkin’

The improvisation-based dance Waacking/Punking developed in gay underground disco clubs of 1970s Los Angeles and circulated transnationally via television's landmark black music/dance show Soul Train. With almost all male progenitors passing during the early AIDS crisis, the culture was reborn in the 2000s to the transnational hip-hop/street dance arena, now a competition style dominated by nonblack cisgender females. While seeming to promote hetero-normative gender performance, learning the dance practice potentially queers movement norms through corporeal drag – techniques for trying on and refashioning movement that transform kinesthetic consciousness. At the same time, the obscure structural positioning of the black male figure associated with Waacking/Punking's historical context complicates and disorients gendered notions of power and racialized sexuality in its rebirth. This trans-methodological study centers experiences of black practitioners, drawing from first-person stories of pioneer and new generation dancers, as well as native ethnography and archival research. In subtle ways, Waacking practices redress black masculinity and question performing social inclusion under terms of a white patriarchal order – terms that suture blackness-to-pathology-to-violence. The erotic practice of Waacking/Punking may be understood as an embodied re-negotiation of hegemonic demands on gender and sexuality, made possible through its transmission of a black kinesthetic politics.

The commons: a brief life journey

A commoner's Bildungsroman, this article narrates the intellectual development of a radically rooted intellectual, through reflections on dominant explanatory frameworks, evoking through that journey, the real-life personal and conceptual implications of the pursuit of understanding the world, and the desire to change it. Introduction: searching for roses, music, and adventure In 1969, the year of factory and students' explosions in Italy, I was nine years old. I became teenager in the 1970s, a decade of intense mass movements of struggles and social creativity that involved youth, workers, women producing house occupations, social centres, free radios, experiences of self-organization in high schools, universities, factories, collectives, and self- organized abortion clinics. I could not understand it all but struggle made sense, and even more so the feeling of freedom, dignity, and autonomy that many of these struggles communicated to me, as a young and nao ¨ve boy striv- ing for more than the bread and butter rationale I was accustomed to in my family: I also needed roses, music and a sense of adventure towards new horizons. After 1979 and the heavy-handed repression following the anti- terrorist laws that crushed large sections of social movements, and after the seed of heroin was implanted into youth circles killing many and taking out of action many more, the party was finished. For me, it was as if in the moment you manage to get onto the dance floor and begin to understand how to dance, the music stops, and the lights are turned off. The party was over, and it was transferred to other scenes: in front of the TV, with the explo- sion of private channels in the hands of Berlusconi, into disco clubs, into the beginning of precarious lives in time of economic austerity and financial boom ... and into reading and discussion groups.

Subjective difficulties in young people related to extensive loud music listening

For human ear, noise represents every undesirable and valueless sound. In disco clubs, as in some other places with loud music mostly attended by young people, the level of noise sometimes attains over 100 dB. As reported by numerous studies, a high noise level could induce subjective difficulties (ear buzzing, audition loss, vertigo and palpitations, anxiety, high blood pressure, decreased concentration, lowered memory storing). Assessment of subjective difficulties occurring in young people when staying in places with a high noise level (cafes, disco clubs, rock concerts), which can produce health problems, due to loud music, in association with demographic data, addictions and personal life style data. One of the goals is to find factors leading to subjective difficulties, which would be objectively studied in the second stage of the research and marked as early predictors of possible health problems. The study was conducted among 780 students of the Higher Healthcare School of Professional Studied in Belgrade. We used a questionnaire with 20 questions, divided into four categories: demographic data, case-history data, subjective problems and addictions of the subjects. In the statistical data processing we used the methods of descriptive and exploratory analysis, chi-square tests, correlation tests and Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio. After listening loud music, 54.0% of examined subjects felt ear buzzing, and 4.6% had hearing damage. The habit of visiting places with loud music, mostly once a week in duration of 2-3 hours per visit had 80.4% of subjects. The presence of subjective complaints after listening of loud music was in association with loud music listening and disco clubs visits.The major reasons of the present subjective difficulties could be predicated by listening of loud music and club visits (r = 0.918 and r = 0.857). A relative risk for subjective difficulties presentation was 1.599. According to the results of our study, over half of children develop loud music-induced subjective problems involving ear buzzing and occasionally hearing loss.

Human stability in the erect stance: Alcohol effects and audio-visual perturbations

Aim In this article, we discuss the connection between alcohol and the control strategies carried out by the central nervous system to maintain the erect stance. Audio-visual perturbations were coupled with the consumption of an alcoholic beverage to simulate the possible perturbation affecting people at disco clubs, and the effects measured with a stabilometric platform. Methods We studied the statokinesigrams (SKG) of 14 volunteers; 11 of them were healthy, 3 were injured. We made a series of numerical tests using a stabilometric platform to record the statokinesigrams. The tests were carried out using statistical methods, time-series analysis, and applying the “ p” parameter, recently proposed by Pascolo and Marini [2006. On the introduction of a new parameter for the analysis of posture. Europa Medicophysica, 42, 145–149] as a new tool to evaluate the reactions of the central control system with respect to posture-affecting diseases (for instance Parkinson) and perturbations. Conclusion This work shows that it is theoretically possible to define non-invasive parameters able to distinguish sober subjects from drunk subjects, with an evaluation that only uses a stabilometric platform.

O suingue funk da canção SLA

Este artigo apresenta uma análise da canção funk de Fernanda Abreu (FA), vista como representante da canção funk carioca contemporânea, a partir de alguns conceitos da semiótica da canção, desenvolvida por Luiz Tatit. O objetivo do artigo é refletir acerca de alguns mecanismos desenvolvidos na canção “SLA radical dance disco club” de Fernanda Abreu para persuadir seu ouvinte a tomar gosto por esse gênero musical, a participar do “baile da pesada” do funk carioca e a fazer parte do “clube SLA” de FA. Para contextualizar o leitor, primeiro, retomamos o percurso histórico do funk no Rio de Janeiro e localizamos a presença da canção de Fernanda Abreu nesse quadro, depois, abordamos os conceitos semióticos utilizados na análise da canção e, por fim, analisamos a letra da canção “SLA radical dance disco club” como exemplo das SLAs de Fernanda Abreu e de seu funk carioca, parte (à parte) desse estilo musical.
 
 Palavras-chave: Suingue. Funk carioca. Fernanda Abreu. SLA. Semiótica da canção.

Sexual behaviour of adolescents

Numerous studies have shown that sexual behaviour increases among adolescents. Disharmony between biological and psychosocial maturity among young people may cause risky behavior, and endanger psychophysical and reproductive health of young persons. A questionnaire on sexual behaviour was completed by 169 adolescents, 1st and 4th year high school students. Every 6th first grade and every 2nd fourth grade adolescent is sexually active. Male adolescents begin sexual activities significantly earlier (at the age of 15.6) than female adolescents (16.5). Also, young men have significantly more partners (3.6) than girls (1.3), and more parallel sexual relations than girls. Only 1/3 of sexually active adolescents always use some kind of contraception, more frequently boys (41.9%) than girls (26.7%). Early commencement of sexual activity results with longer active period before realization of the reproductive function, which increases risk for reproductive health disorders. Unprotected sexual intercourse and large number of partners also present significant risk factors. Sexual life of adolescents begins at the age of 16, on average, and only every third always uses contraceptive protection, which points to a need for better education on reproductive health by using contemporary methods. It is also necessary to increase availability of contraceptives (condoms) at all places where adolescents spend time (in schools, bars, cinemas, disco clubs etc.) in order to achieve responsible sexual behavior and protection of reproductive health among youth.

MDMA (`ecstasy') consumption in the context of polydrug abuse: a report on 150 patients

The present study examined the characteristics and the possible psychopathological consequences of ecstasy (MDMA, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) use. One hundred and fifty consecutive patients, presenting to the Padova (Italy) Addiction Treatment Unit and who had taken ecstasy on at least one occasion, were examined and studied using a semi-structured interview. Ninety-five percent of the patients had experimented with another drug of abuse at least once in their lifetime. Ecstasy was mainly self-administered at disco clubs, and reported acute psychoactive effects confirmed previous reports. Fifty-three percent of the total sample were found to be affected by one or more psychopathological problems; the most frequent were depression, psychotic disorders, cognitive disturbances, bulimic episodes, impulse control disorders, panic disorders, social phobia. Those who were free from any psychopathological problem, compared to the others, had taken a smaller number of MDMA tablets in their lifetime, for a shorter duration and with a lower frequency. Again, they were less likely to have used alcohol together with ecstasy but more likely to have used opiates. Longer-term, larger dosage (acute or cumulative) MDMA consumers were found to be at high risk of developing psychopathological disturbances. The results are discussed, taking into account both the ecstasy suggested serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) neurotoxicity and the various methodological issues pertaining to this kind of large-scale clinical study describing people for whom MDMA is far from being the only drug of abuse.

Stardust disco investigation - Some observations on the full-scale fire tests

From witness reports it appears that the occupants of the disco watched the fire in the west alcove with interest and made no effort to leave. However, after only a very few minutes — probably little more than five — the fire had developed so quickly that in the ensuing rush to escape, 48 people died. This paper discusses how full-scale tests established the possible mechanism for a seemingly small fire in a single seating unit to suddenly and rapidly develop into a large one placing all life in the disco club at risk.

Energy cost of disco dancing.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate the energy cost of dancing in the conditions that prevail in disco clubs. To avoid any hindrance in the movements of the dancers, oxygen uptake was assessed by retroextrapolating the 02 recovery curve to time zero of recovery. Males and females required a similar energy cost for disco dancing, that is 30.1 ± 10.3 ml 02 · kg-1 · min-1 for a fundamental music rhythm of 135.0 ± 7.7 bpm (X ± SD = for 15 university students). Males, being heavier than females, have a higher absolute energy expenditure (X ± SD = 48.5 ± 15.2 and 31.7 ± 13.7 kj · min-1). Heart rate was 134.5 ± 13.4 bpm. Total energy expenditure for a dancing evening (90 min of active time) was estimated to be 4350 and 2850 kJ for the males and the females respectively. At approximately 60 and 70% [Vdot]O2 max for the males and females respectively, disco dancing could be efficient for improving aerobic fitness and for controlling excess body fat. In this respect, and from the literature, disco da...