US politician raises iPod questions
One of the Podcasts I listen to regularly is
'The Ongoing History of New Music' by Alan Cross, a great music documentary show that is broadcast on practically every rock-based radio station in Canada.
The show puts out, hour long documentary episodes weekly and short sweet one minute information episodes every day.
Recently, one of the episodes (sorry, couldn't find it so I am not sure what the date of the broadcast was) talked about the decibal level output from your average MP3 player and the results are a little scary.
Essentially, Alan mentioned that some countries in Europe have passed laws limiting the decibal level of devices to 95-100 (again... I couldn't find the episode, so these numbers may be off just a little!).
Now, if you know anything about your inner ear, you may remember learning in high-school science class that anything over 85 decibals WILL (notice WILL and not MAY) at least eventually, damage your hearing.
So what is the average decibal level of North American MP3 players? 125 to 135!!!
I wonder if Apple et al have purchased stocks in
Widex Digital?
Michael Valiant
Jan. 30, 2006
Can you still hear me now? That's the question Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, wants answered when it comes to people listening to popular portable music players like Apple Computer Incorporated's iPod.
The US lawmaker on Thursday asked the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to review research to determine if the devices are contributing to premature hearing loss as well as recommend what people can do to prevent it from happening.
"Consumers need to have good information about the potential health concerns posed by these devices," Markey said in a letter to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
Markey said that noise above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss depending on the length of exposure and he cited a recent Washington Post article that said Apple has declined to reveal how loud its iPods can go.
All of Apple's iPod players come with earbuds that fit just inside the outer ear, rather than traditional headphones that go over the ear. Apple's devices include batteries that last for several hours.
An NIH representative was not immediately available for comment.
The question about hearing loss from portable music devices is not new, but the issue has reemerged amid soaring sales of players by Apple and other technology companies.
Apple, which dominates the market for the devices, alone sold 14 million iPods during the Christmas holiday quarter and 42 million since October 2001, when it introduced the device. A company representative was not immediately available to comment.
Sony Corporation and Thomson's RCA also sell music players and Cingular Wireless, the largest US wireless carrier, offers Apple's music software in a cell phone.
"People don't want to give up their portable music devices," Markey said in his letter. "However, they need to know whether they are at risk for premature hearing loss and how to protect themselves."
Jan. 9, 2006
Guitarist Pete Townshend has warned iPod users that they could end up with hearing problems as bad as his own if they don't turn down the volume of the music they are listening to on earphones.
Townshend, 60, guitarist in British band The Who, said his hearing was irreversibly damaged by years of using studio headphones and that he now is forced to take 36-hour breaks between recording sessions to allow his ears to recover.
"I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal components deaf," he said on his website.
"Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired. If you use an iPod or anything like it, or your child uses one, you MAY be OK ... But my intuition tells me there is terrible trouble ahead."
Referring to the increasingly popular practice of downloading music from the internet, Townshend said: "The downside may be that on our computers - for privacy, for respect to family and co-workers, and for convenience - we use earphones at almost every stage of interaction with sound."
The Who was famous for its earsplitting live performances, but Townshend said his problem was caused by using earphones in the recording studio.
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