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192 Comments
- Hodor, on 02/21/2009, -2/+180This isn't limited to iPod's....
- robmilmel, on 02/22/2009, -2/+115WHAT?
- t0ny, on 02/22/2009, -7/+97"Are Your Earphones Causing Hearing Loss?" Only if you are an idiot and turn them all the ***** volume way up.
- aramando, on 02/21/2009, -1/+66I'm all for this issue being more well known about. The amount of sound leaking out of some people's ears when using crappy earbuds is unbelievable, and it's not hard to see why many of them go on to have hearing problems.
I don't understand why more people don't do what I've done - go and spend £40/$70 or so on a pair of decent passive sound-isolating earphones, or even some good cans. I use Shure SE110 earphones and Sony MDR-V500 headphones, each cost about this amount, each sound vastly better than the bundled Apple earbuds, are way more comfortable, and cut out a good amount of environmental sound, meaning you can hear your music better and at a lower volume, but it doesn't sound too quiet because without all the extra background noise your ears adjust down.
But what worries me about imposing restrictions on the devices themselves to force people to listen at a safe volume is just what wilf_brim says - there is a huge variation in sensitivity of earphones, in the loudness of the audio being listened to, and so on. If a manufacturer sets their device to be guaranteed safe for people listening to your typical chart pop tunes through earbuds, then I'm not going to be able to get a decent level out of it when listening to some properly-recorded music (that isn't compressed to hell to make it sound as loud as possible on the radio) with headphones, which take more juice to output the same level of sound energy because of the larger driver size. - inactive, on 02/21/2009, -1/+47I agree. This has been going on since 8-tracks and stereo headphones in the 70s & the walkmans of the 80s & 90s. iPods have nothing to do with it, a decade ago, it was the same story, but with Sony instead of Apple.
- BlackCow, on 02/22/2009, -3/+46I hate how "iPod" has become synonymous with "MP3" player. It's like tissue and kleenex.
- MavRevMatt, on 02/22/2009, -0/+32I'd tend to agree with you, but the use of "No I-PODs" in my school's policy thing can come in handy since I don't own an iPod, much less an "I-POD".
- scooterbaga, on 02/22/2009, -0/+28Just get the headphones that also act as ear plugs. 'More' sound at less volume.
- wilf_brim, on 02/21/2009, -1/+27A decent article, but I'd like so see the article to look at their methods. There would be a large degree of variability between the volume setting on the PMP and the SPL (sound pressure level) experienced at the ear. The type of PMP, earphone/earbud driver design and efficiency, type of earphone (in ear, over ear), fit in the ear, and configuration of the external ear canal as it relates to the drivers in the earbuds/earphones. Lots of room for variation there.
Nonetheless, I'm thinking that many listen to their music too loudly. If your ears are ringing after, it's too loud. - Braxo, on 02/22/2009, -0/+24It's not the headphones that cause the hearing loss, it's the user that causes the hearing loss.
- Kerrigore, on 02/22/2009, -0/+19[citation needed]
- Vorlindeion, on 02/22/2009, -1/+19Wow, way to generalize 173 million ipod users with a sample size of 30.
- carlosos, on 02/22/2009, -2/+16Wasn't that what the article said? 80% is already very high.
With a good sound-isolating earphone you can easily turn it to 20% or less of the maximum and get good sound that isn't really loud. - uallsuck, on 02/22/2009, -0/+141. google tinnitus 2. Be sad
- factsahoy, on 02/22/2009, -1/+14The iPod's what?
apostrophe + S = possessive - inactive, on 02/22/2009, -0/+13I know right, I'm a Zune user.
- CoD4, on 02/22/2009, -3/+16wat
- mrshickadance9, on 02/22/2009, -0/+12the distortion has nothing to do with hearing loss.
- dagamer34, on 02/22/2009, -0/+9Instead of turning the volume up, I suggest buying better headphones. The standard headphones that come with any music player are rarely any good (and the first place to cut costs)
- Steveaux, on 02/22/2009, -0/+9So exposing yourself to high volumes for long periods of time can damage your hearing? Wow. Thanks, Time.
- mrshickadance9, on 02/22/2009, -1/+9Why would you want to listen to music that loud? I listen to it at about half volume and it is more than enough. any louder just hurts my ears. Maybe all the articles and statistics that my audio and acoustics teachers showed me paid off.
- Thorpe, on 02/22/2009, -0/+8My ears are always ringing. What do I do?
- UnWeave, on 02/22/2009, -0/+880% volume on any MP3 player I have ever used (bar those crappy 1Gb-USB-stick-come-MP3-player), iPod or otherwise, is way too loud for me to cope with using the usual ***** came-with-the-player headphones. I don't get how people can do it without already having suffered reasonable hearing damage, thus requiring them to turn it up louder.
Anyway, like most people on here, I would recommend a decent pair of Sennheisers, Shures etc, or some beefy over-ears. I've got a pair of Grados that are the sex. You just look like a bit of a dick in public. - inactive, on 02/22/2009, -1/+9The douches who wants everyone else around to the hear their stupid hiphop deserves hearing loss. Some time on public transports they set the earphones so loud I can hear their music over my own earphones.
- Kerrigore, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6Frankly, I think the inherent sound isolation of in-ear headphones would solve a lot of problems. Without ambient noise interfering, people are less likely to turn up the music so loud. With standard headphones, the volume you listen at in a quiet room is going to differ vastly from the volume you listen at on a bus or next to a noisy street. Noise-isolating earbuds not only allow you hear your music better at lower levels, but protect you from the ambient noise on top of that.
I'd like to see a study that compares users of standard vs in-ear headphones and see what the results are. If this is really such a huge problem (and frankly, I think it's almost entirely hype), then a reasonable solution might be to ship in-ear headphones with the iPods. I don't think limiting the maximum output volume of iPods (and presumably all other Mp3 players) is a good solution, because it gets problematic if you want the iPod to be capable of outputting to another speaker system at a decent volume. - leif77, on 02/22/2009, -2/+8Take it from me.. I'm a guitarist that also listens to an iPod every day and i have a constant ringing... I don't listen as loud anymore... but the ringing doesn't go away.
- cl2yp71c, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6Too bad the Time journalist didn't consider that...
- bdbr, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6Most likely all you can do is live with it. Its called tinnitus, and its what happens when you're exposed to loud noise too much - far more likely than hearing loss. I have it too.
- inactive, on 02/22/2009, -1/+7I was more or less an idiot by hearing electronic music (prodigy, pendulum, ect) pretty loud with my ipod until I was asleep. That all stopped when I realized one morning there was a persistent ringing in my ears, I did my research on the Internet and found out I had damaged my ears and now had permanent Tinnitus. Hooray.
- Narcism, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6+++relevant thumbnail
- Mankind121, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6I'm going to file this under N -- for No ***** listening to music at high volumes for long periods causes hearing loss
- jmill987, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6I hate the ipod earbuds. They don't block out external noise at all, so you have to turn them way up if there's any noise around you. If I listen to my ipod at that same high level when there's no external noise it seems dangerously loud, which scares the crap out of me, going deaf is like my worst fear...
- fsufanizzle, on 02/22/2009, -5/+11Thanks for this revelation of an article Mr Baby Man, it has opened my eyes...damn power diggers! I suppose it's a break from these stupid ass 4chan pictures and ***** web comics. What has happened to Digg?
- inactive, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6AKG K240S ftw. Excellent sound, but an iPod is a little under-powered to drive them.
- nukeleearr, on 02/22/2009, -1/+7Earbuds are terrible. Buy a $80 pair of any Sennheiser phones instead.
- Goallie11, on 02/22/2009, -1/+7Using Shure headphones, I only listen to mine at 20% volume. You can hear everything at most times and if not turning it up briefly a few notches wont hurt because of how low I listen to it to begin with.
- colto, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6Not true rudegar. Since much more of the sound is actually funneled into the ear canal rather than leaking out the in-ear design allows for perceived volume to be much higher than it actually is. This grants a similar listening environment to headphones turned way up while keeping safer sound pressure levels.
- fastguyrules, on 02/22/2009, -1/+6I can always hear other peoples music playing and I know that they're losing their hearing. When I occasionally use my headphones it's always at a low level. I am very concerned about my hearing loss but for some reason other don't seam that concerned and there is an idea that listening to music softly is somehow uncool or that you're being a pussy because you don't listen to your music loud. Well it will be interesting to see who still has their hearing in the next 20-30 years.
- GalOnDigg, on 02/22/2009, -1/+6O-KAY!!!
- forceuser, on 02/22/2009, -0/+5No I think anything over 60% is bad. It sucks my treadmill is so loud, I have to crank mine up to 90%. In before go outside, it's 5 degrees here.
- Duffle, on 02/22/2009, -0/+5With my Shures in a normal room I have to listen to my iPod at the bare minimum, and on a crowded bus around 20%.
- sapo916, on 02/22/2009, -0/+5Who wears giant headphones with their iPods? I have a pair of Beyer DT770s at home but I keep a pair of MetroFi 150s on the go.
- mrshickadance9, on 02/22/2009, -0/+5go do your homework.
- Ultrace, on 02/22/2009, -0/+5Enjoy the game. As others have indicated, you'll pay for it soon enough. Others around you won't have to wish for something bad to happen to you, it's guaranteed. :)
- DeskFlyer, on 02/22/2009, -3/+8YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAA
- JuanBSU, on 02/22/2009, -0/+5You are amazingly cool! How can I be more like you?!
- DigitalRambler, on 02/22/2009, -1/+5Valid Point
But there is a much higher percentage of people that own and use mp3 players daily then people who packed around walk mans. So it is a much more widespread issue. - factsahoy, on 02/22/2009, -0/+4Not to mention the process that's destroying all popular music today: dynamic compression. To make it seem "louder", record companies have been turning every recording into a wall of noise since the mid-to-late '90s.
Does maximized volume every millisecond hurt your hearing more than recordings that have intermittent peaks and some "room" in them? - Lane, on 02/22/2009, -0/+4you're absolutely right, I have a pair of denon canal earphones and I found myself needing to continually turn them down while I was listening in a quite hallway. With good isolation music just sounds loud.
- tabion, on 02/22/2009, -0/+4If people who are old and are already turning deaf, what will be of our generation as we age?
Simply reduce the setting for max volume, and invest in noise-reducing earphones/buds to help keep the volume low. -
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