| Kids have always loved listening to their favorite music, | | | | of the ears - had that distortion when the volume was |
| and the louder the better - much to their parents' | | | | turned up, which functioned as a much-needed buffer |
| dismay. In the 1980s, the portable tape recorder with | | | | to protect our hearing. Today's technology does not |
| headphones - which came to be known as the | | | | provide that buffer - the earpiece is placed in the ear, |
| "Walkman" - enabled teenagers to listen to their music | | | | not outside of it, and the digital devices do not create |
| as loud as they wanted, anywhere they wanted, | | | | that distortion, no matter how high the volume. |
| without disturbing anyone around them. | | | | In addition, people often listen to these devices while |
| But the more modern rendition of the Walkman - | | | | they are on the go, and have a tendency to crank the |
| portable MP3 Players and iPods - pose a major threat | | | | volume in an attempt to drown outside noise, further |
| to our children's hearing health, and to ours. | | | | posing a risk to our hearing. Using the earbud style |
| The problem is a combination of the technology of | | | | headphones during activities such as exercise, for |
| portable digital devices that creates a non-buffered | | | | example, puts the user at a greater risk. During |
| crystal clear sound, and the type of headphones | | | | exercise, blood, which can act as a buffer, is diverted |
| typically used with them, which do not have a buffer | | | | from the ears to other parts of the body - so our |
| either. In December 2005, Dean Garstecki, an | | | | already vulnerable hearing is in even more jeopardy. |
| audiologist and professor at Northwestern University | | | | Headwize reports that a study conducted on music |
| reported that more and more young people were | | | | listeners using headphones revealed that while indoors |
| being diagnosed with the types of hearing loss typically | | | | with no background noise, the participants were |
| found in older adults. He attributed this trend to the | | | | comfortable with their music at 69 decibels. Outdoors, |
| "earbud" type headphones that usually accompany | | | | where the background noise was recorded at 65 |
| iPod and MP3 Players. | | | | decibels, participants using their headphones turned the |
| With the earbud headphones, the sound frequencies | | | | volume up to 82 decibels and as high as 95 decibels to |
| are not buffered as they are with the more traditional, | | | | drown out the surrounding noise. The Occupational |
| ear cup-style headsets. Newsweek Magazine recently | | | | Safety and Health Administration guidelines limit |
| reported that researchers at the House Ear Institute | | | | exposure to noise at this level to no more than four |
| found that listeners can unfortunately increase the | | | | hours each day. The study concluded that the |
| volume of today's portable digital devices without the | | | | participants were at risk for hearing damage and |
| "signal distortion that occurs with traditional analog | | | | recommended "avoiding continuous use of [portable |
| audio." The older-model headphones that were popular | | | | stereos] in noisy conditions. |
| just 15 to 20 years ago - that have ear cups outside | | | | |