Turn that thing down!

I swear, I read an article very much like this one 25 years ago after getting a Walkman as a Christmas present: Your iPod may be damaging your hearing.

Experts say the problems are probably caused by the use of "ear buds" that sit inside the ear, coupled with the increased length of listening time available, compared to previous portable music players.

Most MP3 players come with stock ear buds, which unlike headphones that sit outside the ear, fit snugly in the ear canal and do not allow any sound to escape.

Because the sound is digital, listeners can crank it up louder without the distortion faced by previous technologies.

One of Apple's initial slogans for the iPod was "Play It Loud."

And, because MP3 players can store hours and hours of music, users can listen all day without stopping - producing an unending barrage of sound.

At least with older audio devices such as portable compact disc players, the listener had to stop and change the CD or restart it.

Well, I mostly used my Walkman to listen to the radio, so I could have listened to it 24/7 if I'd really wanted to. And I guess I'm not shoving the buds of my new iPod far enough into my ear canal, because I can still hear things going on around me when I'm listening. I seem to recall being able to tune out external noises pretty well with the Walkman back in the day, too. I'll stipulate to the crankability, though I can't take it at top volume.

"If it were my kid, I would make sure they never have that iPod more than Level 6 volume," [hearing expert, Dr. Hamid] Djalilian said. "At Level 7, you can listen for four hours a day or so, after that there's a potential for hearing loss. At Level 8, no more than an hour and a half."

[...]

Sounds that are 85 decibels or louder - about one-quarter of the maximum volume on some MP3 players - can damage hearing, at least temporarily.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health sets a safe exposure limit for workplace noise of 85 decibels spread over eight hours a day.

The maximum volume on an iPod ranges from 115 to 125 decibels, depending on the model and who's doing the measuring.

Apple had to pull its iPods from the shelves in France temporarily, because their output exceeded that country's 100-decibel sound limit.

In results released this year of an American Speech-Language-Hearing Association lab test of several models, MP3 players' top volume ranged from 108 to 125 decibels.

By the time you feel pain in your ears from loud noises, your hearing has been permanently damaged.

125 decibels is louder than a train horn at three feet. If you've got your iPod turned up that high, I'd say you've got deeper problems than just blown eardrums. Given that I don't listen to my iPod that much yet, and that I'll be shopping for a car stereo adapter (I've been expressly forbidden to wear it while driving) for what I expect will be the bulk of my usage, I don't anticipate any problems of my own, but it's still worth keeping this in mind.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 03, 2007 to Music | TrackBack