Is the iPod Generation Going Deaf?

prozac79 writes "Ars Technica and Wired News are both running interesting articles on how personal music players are a major contributor [ArsTechnica] to early hearing loss [Wired]. According the ArsTechnica article, an increasing number of people are now living in "noisy" environments that is only made worse by blocking it out with even louder music. The article also suggests that listening to music for one hour a day is considered safe. So now you have a choice... go deaf early or go insane listening to your coworkers chatter."

Comments

Every generation has it's own disease.

[Talondel]

Didn't I read this same story about Walkman's 20 years ago? And didn't they decide the effects were negligable? Oh yeah I did. Abstract from a study in 1987: Krahenbuhl D, Arnold W, Fried R, Chuden H. Investigations on 50 high school students showed that this group had been using the "Walkman" only 1.5 h. per day during the last 14 months. A comparison of the audiometric results obtained with these 50 "Walkman" users, with those of 20 age-related non-"Walkman" users, showed no statistically significant differences. The investigation further revealed that to avoid hearing loss, an upper threshold level of 93 dB (A) should not be exceeded for a daily "Walkman" user time of two hours. PMID: 3613781 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Re:1985

[EtherealStrife]

Ditto. I can second the suggestion. I'm in my 20's and I already have permanent -- and uncorrectable -- hearing damage. You can't imagine how frustrating it is walking around 24/7 with a constant background static buzzing away...until you have it yourself. And when I'm surrounded by complete silence (soundproof rooms/studios) the sound is emphasized, and becomes deafening. And since it's sensory damage, white noise doesn't do squat.

They may look lame or uncool, but the alternative to wearing earplugs is much much worse.

Re:1985

[Anonymous Coward]

"Similarly, once I started jamming in a band earlier this year, I got fed up with the tinnitus and general fatigue induced by the drummer's brass, and quickly picked up a pair of Elacin ER-20 plugs"

Beyond just passive plugs, have you thought about picking up honest to god in ear monitors?

They take a little getting use to, but they work pretty well. The last band I was working with was a grammy nominated r&b group and with a dozen people on stage with brass and other instrumentation, it was as loud as any death metal band I'd ever worked with. Anywho, I started taking a pair of Shure in-ears with me and having the monitor guy give me a nice custom mix to my remote and this meant not only did I have near isolation, but I only needed to hear enough to keep my parts in line.

A good pair of in-ears will isolate everything enough that you can listen at a much lower volume than you would have normally (this is especially true if you get the earpieces custom molded to further isolate). I prefer the Shure's, but there are a few others that are professional range and work for these applications.

Anywho, posting this anonymously because slashdot don't like anyone that has made money through RIAA means and it would taint my future posts as a geek :-) If you have any questions about these, ask and I'll try to respond back though.

Re:Is it just music players?

[labnet]

I do sound engineering, and you need to be 6-12dB above ambient noise to hear something clearly. Thus if you are in traffic of 95dB and you headphones cut out say 5dB, you will still need around 100dB. This could be damaging. See the tables below.

Environmental Noise
Weakest sound heard 0dB
Normal conversation (3-5') 60-70dB
City Traffic (inside car) 85dB
Train whistle at 500' 90dB
Subway train at 200' 95dB
Level at which sustained exposure may result in hearing loss 90 - 95dB
Power mower 107dB
Power saw 110dB
Pain begins 125dB
Pneumatic riveter at 4' 125dB
Jet engine at 100' 140dB
Death of hearing tissue 180dB
Loudest sound possible 194dB

OSHA Daily Permissible Noise Level Exposure
Hours per day Sound level
8h 90dB
6h 92dB
4h 95dB
3h 97dB
2h 100dB
1.5h 102dB
1h 105dB .5h 110dB .25h 115dB

Perceptions of Increases in Decibel Level
Imperceptible Change 1dB
  Barely Perceptible Change 3dB
Clearly Noticeable Change 5dB
About Twice as Loud 10dB
About Four Times as Loud 20dB

Sound Levels of Music
Normal piano practice 60 -70dB
Fortissimo Singer, 3' 70dB
Chamber music, small auditorium 75 - 85dB
Piano Fortissimo 84 - 103dB
Violin 82 - 92dB
Cello 85 -111dB
Oboe 95-112dB
Flute 92 -103dB
Piccolo 90 -106dB
Clarinet 85 - 114dB
French horn 90 - 106dB
Trombone 85 - 114dB
Tympani & bass drum 106dB
Walkman on 5/10 94dB
Symphonic music peak 120 - 137dB
Amplifier rock, 4-6' 120dB
Rock music peak 150dB