Ringing in the Ears: Navigating Sound in the Bell Tower

Are your bells too loud, or too quiet? Could some simple tips help your hard-of-hearing ringers to cope better in the tower? This podcast sees host Cathy Booth and guests explore the fascinating world of sound.

First, Alison and Chris share their experiences of ringing whilst using hearing aids, and come up with some terrific tips to make life easier both in the tower and in the pub afterwards.

Then Cathy quizzes her husband Roger on sound levels in towers. Turns out that it’s not just the decibel volume that matters, but reverberation and structural sound count too. Nobody wants a bad case of ‘clapper knock’!

Whether you want to soak up the sound with wall-to-wall carpet or crank up the volume by leaving all the doors open, this podcast is perfect for you.


Top Five Takeaways

Conductors – tell those outside the circle to be quiet, catch the eye of the ringers before involving them in a change and call ‘that is all’ at the end, rather than ‘that’s all’Ringers – if you are new to hearing aids, experiment using the ‘music’ or ‘speech enhancing’ setting, depending on your needs. Stand where you have a very good view of the conductor and work extra hard at your ropesightUse a mobile app to quickly check the decibel volume in your ringing room – if it is too high then bring in some professional adviceCheck out Mike Banks’ presentation ‘Sound control inside and outside of your tower’ https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Mike-Banks-Sound-Control-slides_2.pdfGot concerns about your hearing? Get these checked out as soon as possible. Several studies have found a link between untreated hearing loss and dementia risk. Why not try the RNID’s free online hearing check www.rnid.org.uk/check

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored by the Association of Ringing Teachers (ART).  To find out more about learning to ring, learning to teach or other resources to support your ringing go to bellringing.org

Podcast team:
Anne Tansley Thomas
Emily Roderick
John Gwynne
Emily Watts
Cathy Booth

Ringing by:
The Cambridge Youths (supplied by David Richards) and for later episodes, The Liliputters Guild (supplied by Simon Edwards).