News News Flash: MP3 players can damage your hearing

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/09/05/News_Flash_MP3_players_can_damage_hearing/

 

Didn't Sony walkman (tape players) have a volume limiter in place years ago? Personally I hate limited volumes on devices as I like Seinheiser headphones but they need the volume whacked up to work properly as they seem to have alot of resistance so whats loud on a cheapo set is quiet on a more expensive pair :/

 

if i have music on , limited at 80dB, and someone nect to me starts to talk, i cant hear the music anymore.

 

most people i know have their music up way too loud. Personally i use shures so that i can have my music at a low level and still be able to hear it. The main problem is that the headphones that come with mp3 players are not very good and most people use them. Personally i throw away the headphones that come with stuff, but all of my friends use them.

 

Surely it's impossible to have a fixed volume level without knowing the impedance of the headphones?

 

[sarcasm]Whaaaaat?! Loud music damages your hearing?!?!?!?! NO WAY!!! I would've heard of that before! [/sarcasm] It really isn't that surprising is it?
I never ever used the headphones that came with any of my portable music devices anyways. :Eyebrow:

Agree. Get some decent headphones and everything's better.

 

ye, get some shures and your ears will love u

 

Next item of news: Throwing stuff on the floor can damage them

 

It's a nice theory BUT, as others have already pointed out, this won't work. Besides basic impedance there's also a huge difference between in-ear buds vs over-ear headphones.

Idiots that go deaf because they crank up headphones (If they've been warned then that's their problem) don't bother me - It's the jerks in the cars with bass that you can hear three blocks away that bother me. - or maybe I'm just getting old - but it sure is inconsiderate.

Unfortunately one of the parts of being a youth is that feeling of invincibility - "it can't really hurt ME" - so, sadly, these warnings often fall on (future) deaf ears (pun intended).

 

My sister has this problem - she suffered from ear infections a lot as a child so has pretty severely reduced hearing in one ear. To be able to hear her iPod, therefore, she has to crank up the volume which isn't good for her other ear.

I worry about her tbh

 

Death metal knows only one volume: F@$%*# LOUD

 

Anyone recently bought a psp? there were ear friendly ones included with mine, and honestly i would be aswell listening to my music on mute. I couldn't hear a thing on the bus. After that i did some research and gettin myself a set on senheisser canalphones. I think its supposed to be the bud style earphones that do the most damage since they don't block outside noise. The bbc site even says a busy street is 70dB so its no surprise that someone wanting to listen to music on that street would have their music a little louder than that.

 

its very true, you have to have your music turned up to hear it

But the MP3 player cant know what DB it is, any range of headphones can have totally different volume outputs for input (isn't that impedance ?)

i thought damage to your hearing was at the 110 db range ? not 80db

personally, Ive measured the sound In my room and i can get it up to 110 decibels without distortion, any more then that and it hurts my ears, or distorts

 

it also depends on range and frequency...

hmm just use earphones that cover / seal your ears properly so that you wont have to turn up to volume /kill_ears or /annoyinnocentpeoplearoundyouwithyourtststststssounds

(but then again some people just want to hear bad)




ow and

maded me laugh

 

I;ve got a lovely pair of sony in-ears with the little rubber earplugs in different sizes, but I've discovered that although my right ear fits perfectly my left ear is too big for the small and too small for the medium, so the phone keeps falling out. Am I abnormal?

 

yep

(Actually it is quite normal for people to be slightly asymmetrical: one eye, ear, ... slightly higher, one foot a little longer, one hand a little bigger...)

I third that

 

my cousin listens to music on his mobile so loud i can hear it from the other room, he uses ear buds that come with the phone.

 

Seriously!?! Dammit, that's why all my stuff is broken. Why wasn't it labeled with a big warning sticker? Who do I call to start a class action lawsuit?


Seriously though...as others have pointed out, volume will vary not just with the MP3 player, but also with the specific headphones used...so trying to regulate things from either end is a bit unintelligent. This "music too loud causes hearing loss" is going to be a hot issue until either:
1) everybody is so deaf that some doctor has to find a cure, or
2) they start packaging little decibel meters with every set of headphones and speakers, or
3) some fool with lots of money to pay off the government gets a law passed that forces every set of headphones and every music player to be crippled to the point of near uselessness.

 

If you say video games made you do it I bet jack thompson would do it for free.

Some things you have to listen to loud to drown out outside noise, or get a decent pair of headphones. I have some over the ear ones that sound great, block noise, and dont weigh a ton and hurt to wear.

 

MMm, people actually do research on this? I would have thought common sense would have . . . never mind

recently bought a nice pair of in-ear phones and have found that I only have to use 1/3 of the volume to get the right balance of sound quality, my old ones had to be turned right up to even hear the bass