By Ande Jacobson

Two times of the year are tricky for those of us with sensitive ears, at least in the United States. July 4th and year end pose a particular conundrum. Why? Fireworks abound, and when that happens sudden loud noises are inescapable. While most of my friends and family love fireworks displays, I have tried hard to avoid them throughout my life. I have memories of childhood Fourth of July celebrations where I spent most of my time with my fingers in my ears trying to find a quiet place to avoid the cascading booms from the almost continuous array of firecrackers, “safe and sane” family fireworks, and of course professional fireworks displays. No matter the source, those sudden loud noises caused me pain. In an odd turn of events, our family dog was nonplussed and would often curl up and sleep in the midst of it all despite her keen hearing. She was an odd dog.

On our summer trips to Disneyland when I was growing up, I had the same problem. Every night before closing they’d run a big fireworks display that my parents wanted to see. I’d stand there with my fingers in my ears willing it to be over as the crushing booms kept coming ever closer. The only Disney fireworks display that I enjoyed was decades later on a trip to Disney World. My husband and I had dinner at the Contemporary Resort’s California Cuisine location despite the irony of having gone from California to Florida only to partake of California cuisine. We had accidentally timed our meal to coincide with the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom which was right next to the resort tower we were in. The booms weren’t audible, but they piped in the music that went along with it, and the fireworks were arrayed outside the panoramic windows of the restaurant providing a breathtaking display of color.

The other way I could enjoy fireworks was by watching them on television where I could control the volume. I spent a lot of time in the Washington D.C. area for work over the years often staying for weeks or months at a time during every time of year including over the Fourth of July on numerous occasions. I knew better than to go down to the Capitol Mall anytime close to their massive Independence Day celebration. Aside from being sensitive to sudden loud noises, I dislike crowds and have avoided them whenever possible even before the pandemic.

From a noise perspective, it isn’t just fireworks that bother me. Any sudden loud noise invokes the same response due to my physiological peculiarity. How I ever survived band and orchestra growing up is still a mystery, particularly in high school when we performed a symphonic band arrangement of the 1812 Overture – with canons. They weren’t real canons of course, but they were actual charges that the stage crew set off under the tubas. I was glad that I was well downstage of that commotion, but the charges were still loud enough to hurt my ears beyond 100 plus instrumentalists playing around me.

Fortunately when I returned to ensemble play many years after college, a good friend in the music industry introduced me to custom musician’s earplugs. Ever since then participating in ensemble music became much more comfortable. I even would use them when I’d practice by myself on any instrument other than piano.

Unfortunately the semiannual assault on my auditory senses from fireworks remains, and during those times, my empathy for the millions of dogs and cats who are also sensitive to those overwhelming concussive noises increases 100 fold.

If the fireworks were limited to a short period after sundown on the specified holidays, that would be much more tolerable, and hearing protection could provide some solace. Unfortunately, there are far too many people who seem to live to blow things up. For the summer assault, they start in late June and continue until mid-July with sporadic firecrackers and other explosive detonations at all hours of the day and night sending the neighborhood dogs into a tizzy. While I don’t curl up in a little ball in a dark closet with soundproofing surrounding me, I do sometimes resort to my musician’s earplugs swapping out the normal attenuation I use for playing with a solid 30dB attenuator to help lessen the impact. I use that same setup when vacuuming around the house to protect my hearing.

The winter fireworks around New Year’s tend to be a little shorter lived according to the calendar, but they are still annoying. The one thing that sometimes makes them a little less pervasive is inclement weather including precipitation around the holiday.

Decades ago, fireworks in California over the summer were allowed in most counties, but they were limited from a legal perspective. For instance, only adults could purchase them. In more recent times, the days of “safe and sane” fireworks are past in large swaths of the state. While still legal at the state level, they are outlawed by numerous cities and counties in the more populous regions. Where they are outlawed, no individual fireworks are allowed, but that doesn’t stop people from shooting off all kinds of firecrackers, whistling petes, cherry bombs, and the like despite their being illegal and dangerous. Fireworks have always been a detriment to the environment creating unnecessary pollution, and they pose a risk to individuals handling them without proper precautions. Every year, emergency rooms get plenty of patients with injuries ranging from minor burns to missing fingers or limbs from mishandling explosives over the July 4th period.

In California beyond the pollution concerns, the risk of wildfires is also paramount. While that should be enough to outlaw fireworks statewide, they are often restricted in areas with plentiful wildfire fuel.

Still, professional displays have always been around in the more populous regions of the state. The bigger question is why do so many people want to recreate battlefield type explosions when war is something that should be avoided?

It seems to me that a far better way to celebrate and commemorate such holidays would be with rousing music. For Independence Day, there is no shortage of patriotic American music that could be played. For color and spectacle, there are numerous ways to create brilliant light shows without blowing anything up. Dance with festive costumes can add to the excitement. Nobody should have to lose an appendage to remember how our country was founded. Ending the use of explosives for celebrations would be joyous music to my ears, and to the millions of dogs and cats that live in fear through these treacherous summer festivities.

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