digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About
See the original image at cnn.com

Study: Headphones could interfere with pacemakers

cnn.com — Most people with pacemakers or implanted defibrillators enjoy their iPods or other MP3 players just as much as anyone else, but a new study suggests they should be cautious about where they store the headphones.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 11, 2008

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

28 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • SHv2, on 11/10/2008, -0/+24Note: Magnets could interfere with pacemakers. *gasp*
  • eric1071, on 11/10/2008, -1/+13Sorry Grampa (Rest in peace), I would of never got you an iPod if had known, Damn you Steve Jobs !!
  • regularsteven, on 11/11/2008, -1/+10news: people with pacemakers are at higher risk of death...
  • mogdor, on 11/11/2008, -1/+9Study: Old people with pacemakers could interfere with me listening to music without headphones.
  • eric1071, on 11/10/2008, -1/+8A bit late for that info....
  • ryanonfire, on 11/11/2008, -0/+7I know right? It's like they just figured this out.
  • BluBerryGTI, on 11/10/2008, -1/+7wow they just figured this out....
  • thegrantman, on 11/11/2008, -1/+6This just in:

    Steve Jobs introduces the IPace :the first pacemaker with 5 G's of memory safely bundled into one package.
    Now you can rock out with Heart without knocking out your heart.
  • Moisgreat, on 11/11/2008, -2/+7They originally thought the trouble was caused by listening to Nickleback.
  • ElBeh, on 11/11/2008, -0/+4It's just a shiny piece of Aluminum crap, don't bother.
  • WafflesID, on 11/11/2008, -0/+3No evidence no conviction
  • wpc33, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2Magnets, too.

    So that's why Grandma never put my watercolor painting on the fridge....I guess the grudge I held beyond her death should never have happened...
    Thanks, internet!
  • FredFredrickson, on 08/10/2009, -0/+2The only problem is that it requires a proprietary circulatory system to work. That, and it costs twice as much as a normal pacemaker.
  • NicoNicoNico, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2You know what really sucks about this? I'm going to have a pacemaker like device installed in me. Eek!

    Luckily, it only affects it if the headphones are an inch away from the device. Since it'll be in my lower back, I only have to worry about sitting on my iPod (which would suck anyway...).
  • inactive, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2*****. I better call P'ta Mon and sue those *****.
  • iLoveGoogle, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2i love the FDA
  • emt1451, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2A 20 year old getting a pacemaker? May I ask why?
  • FallenHero, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2Yeah, but do pacemakers interfere with headphones? That's what I really wanna know.
  • andrewtheart, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2Don't you just LOVE life? Cause and effect is amazing.
  • andrewtheart, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2Anything else you want us to know about yourself?
  • jkmerr, on 11/11/2008, -0/+2I work with pacemakers and ICDs. They all have a magnetic switch in them so you can kick them into a failsafe mode quickly and easily if they screw up. (Easier to stick a magnet on the chest wall over the broken device than to cut the patient open and change a setting.) Thus, we now have a study indicating that the magnets in headphones will activate a magnetic switch. Woohoo! Couldn't have figured that one out without a double-blind, placebo controlled study!
  • SawButter, on 11/11/2008, -0/+1Grandfathers usually wear shirts with a front pocket on the left side. It's called the memory's pocket, they always fill it with useful small objects they scare to forget-lose. Give them a mp3 player and they will put it in there with the headphones.
  • gkiltz, on 11/11/2008, -0/+1Only the ones with the amplifier built into the headphones!
    Others are perfectly safe. Even then, all that water in the body acts to shield the pacemaker from about 80% of EMI
  • TinTin42, on 11/11/2008, -0/+1i hate to think what would happen if you listened to a little bit of drum and bass!!
  • Olograph, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1Stop making so weak pacemakers

    ...phones, ...headphones, ...chairs?
  • inactive, on 11/11/2008, -2/+2this type of reports should be given more importance by media, because we should make sure that it reaches to every person who uses headphone.
  • jsdratm, on 11/11/2008, -2/+2Someone mail Dick Cheney a pair of those earbuds
  • IndieBryan, on 11/11/2008, -2/+2no surprise there.

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.