Cranking The Volume On Your Ipod Or Mp3 Player Can Damage Hearing

Kids have always loved listening to their favorite music,with no background noise, the participants were
and the louder the better - much to their parents'comfortable with their music at 69 decibels. Outdoors,
dismay. In the 1980s, the portable tape recorder withwhere the background noise was recorded at 65
headphones - which came to be known as thedecibels, participants using their headphones turned the
"Walkman" - enabled teenagers to listen to their musicvolume up to 82 decibels and as high as 95 decibels to
as loud as they wanted, anywhere they wanted,drown out the surrounding noise. The Occupational
without disturbing anyone around them.Safety and Health Administration guidelines limit
But the more modern rendition of the Walkman -exposure to noise at this level to no more than four
portable MP3 Players and iPods - pose a major threathours each day. The study concluded that the
to our children's hearing health, and to ours.participants were at risk for hearing damage and
The problem is a combination of the technology ofrecommended "avoiding continuous use of [portable
portable digital devices that creates a non-bufferedstereos] in noisy conditions."
crystal clear sound, and the type of headphonesNorthwestern University's Dean Garstecki offers more
typically used with them, which do not have a bufferspecific guidelines: His 60 percent/60 minute rule - listen
either. In December 2005, Dean Garstecki, anto MP3 Players and iPods for "about an hour a day
audiologist and professor at Northwestern Universityand at levels below 60 percent of maximum volume."
reported that more and more young people wereThe problem is, most of the population using
being diagnosed with the types of hearing loss typicallyheadphones - young music fans - listen to their music
found in older adults. He attributed this trend to thefor much longer than one hour per day. But, you can
"earbud" type headphones that usually accompanyhelp minimize hearing loss, damage and problems while
iPod and MP3 Players.listening to your favorite music as long as you want to
With the earbud headphones, the sound frequencies- the secret is in the headphones.
are not buffered as they are with the more traditional,Headphones such as the EX29 Extreme Isolation
ear cup-style headsets. Newsweek Magazine recentlyNoise Reduction Headphones help block out external
reported that researchers at the House Ear Institutenoise allowing you to hear the fine details of your
found that listeners can unfortunately increase themusic without blowing out your ear drums. The ear
volume of today's portable digital devices without thecup fits over the ear, and not in it, and the headphones
"signal distortion that occurs with traditional analogare lightweight, don't require batteries and can be used
audio." The older-model headphones that were popularwith your MP3 Player or iPod. With 29 decibels of
just 15 to 20 years ago - that have ear cups outsideisolation from outside sound, the quiet headphones
of the ears - had that distortion when the volume wasblock outside noise and there is no need to crank the
turned up, which functioned as a much-needed buffervolume of your music.
to protect our hearing. Today's technology does notAging rock stars like the Who's Pete Townsend, who
provide that buffer - the earpiece is placed in the ear,has some permanent hearing loss from years of
not outside of it, and the digital devices do not createexposure to loud music, and Mick Fleetwood, who has
that distortion, no matter how high the volume.teamed up with Energizer batteries to promote hearing
In addition, people often listen to these devices whileloss prevention, have brought public attention to the
they are on the go, and have a tendency to crank thefact that many of us take our hearing for granted. But
volume in an attempt to drown outside noise, furtherthere's no need to turn off your music - just be
posing a risk to our hearing. Using the earbud stylesmarter about how you listen to it. If you are using
headphones during activities such as exercise, foryour MP3 Player or iPod when you're exercising, in a
example, puts the user at a greater risk. Duringnoisy environment or you just want to hear the fine
exercise, blood, which can act as a buffer, is diverteddetails of your music, ditch the earbud headphones and
from the ears to other parts of the body - so ourreach for a set of noise reduction ones instead. And
already vulnerable hearing is in even more jeopardy.you'll be enjoying your favorite music for a long time to
Headwize reports that a study conducted on musiccome.
listeners using headphones revealed that while indoors