Unsafe Usage of Portable Music Players May Damage Your
Hearing
Audiologists Say Portable Music Player Users Listen to
Devices Too Long at High Volumes; Hearing Loss Can Occur Slowly
Over Time and Not Noticed Until Too Late
Players are a Popular Holiday Gift - Sales of Some are up
More Than 400%
A warning from The American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association (ASHA) this holiday season as MP3 players and iPods
are expected to be big sellers - Apple reports that it sold 22.5
million iPods in fiscal year 2005, an increase of 409% from the
previous year - yet, portable music players may be damaging your
hearing if they are not used properly. Experts say users of
portable music players listen to the devices too long at high
volumes, causing noise-induced hearing loss that occurs gradually
over time, and is not often noticed until too late. Nearly 10
Million Americans experience hearing loss as a result of noise
exposure. Audiologists attribute the primary cause of
noise-induced hearing damage to the lack of public awareness.
How to Prevent Hearing Loss:
- Consider upgrading your earbuds, which sit inside the ear,
to sound isolating earphones that go around the ear
- Limit the time listening to player
- Keep volume down
Listening to loud music could cause hearing loss or tinnitus
(a perception of sound in ears when no external source is
present) or non-auditory problems including biological (increased
blood pressure; ulcers), sleep disturbance, distraction or
annoyance, and learning problems.
Danger Range:
Loud noise above 85 decibels (dB) can cause permanent hearing
loss. Portable music players are capable of producing sound
levels ranging anywhere from 60 to 120 decibels (dB). With the
volume approximately one-quarter of the way up, you hear about
85dB and with the volume all the way up, you could hear about
120dB.
Experts recommend the following as maximum amounts of
time to listen to portable music devices:
12 hrs @ 85dB - (equivalent to motor boat)
8 hrs @ 90dB - (equivalent to lawnmower)
4 hrs @ 95dB - (equivalent to motorcycle)
2 hrs @ 100dB - (equivalent to snowmobile)
1 hr @ 105 dB - (equivalent to chain saw)
30 min @ 110 dB - (equivalent to rock concert, arcade)
15 min @ 115 dB - (equiv.to movie theatre, health clubs)
Watch a short video
[WMV]
see also:
Unsafe
Usage of Portable Music Players May Damage Your Hearing