STEVE ABBOTT, MANAGER, STEREOWEST, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA: It's basically coming down to the laws of physics. They've actually moved beyond sound. I mean most of the cars you see that are up in that type of a decibel range are actually, you know, they don't have any mid and high speakers or anything. They don't actually play music. All they are is creating pressure.
NARRATOR: Decibel drag racing is an up and coming international sport attracting big crowds of young males. Ironically, the biggest star in dB drag racing is retiree, Alma Gates.
ALMA GATES, dB DRAG WORLD RECORD HOLDER: We just got through doing a 170.7. Last week, we did a 173.7. So it's kinda loud.
INTERVIEWER: What do you see in the future for you with this?
GATES: Well, I'd like to do 175 very soon. We were the first to do 170. We did that last March. And I'd sort of like to see what 180 feels like.
ABBOTT: Yeah, it's loud. And even I don't enjoy it. The base thing is still a big attraction for our core customer. Our core customer is, you know, a 16- to 24-year-old male who wants to come in and, you know, add some base to his car.
NARRATOR: If the customer wants loud...
ABBOTT: I give 'em loud.
NARRATOR: Loud sells. High tech sells. And well, you know (women in skimpy outfits parading on stage at auto show)
ANNOUNCER: Can you guys say, Sponsor?
NARRATOR: The audio industry will find ways to connect with its target market.
ABBOTT: It's not uncommon anymore to spend $2,000 on a set of speakers. With the electronic side has come milestones. you've got, you know, whole car multi-media entertainment now you can do Sony Playstation systems, VCR's, DVD players. And as far as the loudness goes, you know, even as far as five or six years ago 140 dB was, you know, pretty much a high number. Now they're up, you know, in the high 70's. Just to put that in perspective standing behind a jet engine of a 747 is only 158.NARRATOR: How loud is too loud? Experts agree that continued exposure to noise above 85 decibels over time will cause hearing loss.
DR. BROOKHOUSER: First of all, kids are attracted to loudness because their parents aren't, largely. You know, I guess the parents all -- it'll be interesting to see what the boomers generation likes. Maybe they'll all like soft sounds, I don't know. But that's part of it. Rebellion, I think.
NARRATOR: Dr. Brookhouser is director of the Boys Town National Research Hospital and Center for Hearing Research in Omaha, Nebraska.
DR. PATRICK BROOKHOUSER, M.D., DIRECTOR OF BOYS TOWN NATIONAL RESEARCH HOSPITAL: If a sound really gets loud enough it can produce sort of a floating sensation. And if you get a loud enough sound coming in through the stapes the little footplate, the stirrup bone that everybody remembers from science class and they move that adequately it can cause a ripple effect or movement of fluid throughout the entire system enough to make you feel like you're having a little bit of a high that you're a little dizzy.
And I think some of the people that get exposed to the very, very loud sounds like with boom cars and things like that are actually experiencing sort of a bit of a high in addition to the hearing. Whatever caused us to suddenly become enamored of very loud music I think has been something that we've delivered to our own children 'cause we all grew up with it. And now they're listening to it as well. The Golden Oldies, maybe the Golden dangerous oldies if you have 'em played at 120 dB.
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