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Earbud Headphones May Cause Hearing Loss
benr writes "According to an AP report, the earbud headphones that are so popular for ipods and other portable devices may lead to hearing loss. From the article: "The big culprits aren't the devices themselves, but the tiny 'ear bud' style headphones that the music players use. 'Unfortunately, the earbuds are even more likely to cause hearing loss than the muff-type earphones that were used on Walkman and portable CD players'""
This is hardly news; for years, headphones have been known to cause hearing loss, and ear buds are merely the extreme expression of this kind of problem. Recently in September 2005 there was a flurry of articles about this issue, according to a quick google search.
There's evidence of a general decline in hearing sensitivity in movie theatres and airplanes. The intensity of airplane overhead speaker volume has recently become almost painful to my ears, and it seems to be consistent across different airlines. Movie theatres as well have cranked up the volume. I find myself covering my ears during the previews, which tend to have intense, compressed action with a lot of music and narrative to pump up the adrenaline. Generally when the main feature begins the sound volume settles down a bit but it can still be worrisomely loud.
I am worried that we in the U.S. are becoming a nation of half-deaf electronic addicts, cranking our headsets and PA systems ever louder to compensate, perhaps unknowingly, for our diminishing sensitivity to sound.
I only hope that ENT doctors and researchers continue to find ways to repair the ear's mechanisms and perhaps develop nerve repair techniques or we're gonna have a huge population of elderly deaf people 50 years from now (with commensurate increase in volume of PA systems etc.).
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
... and they are also very uncomfortable.
This issue basically boils down to common sense. If you listen to your music at excessively high volume, you will eventually suffer hearing loss. People also need to realize that their hearing adapts to different sound levels. European iPods ship with a volume limiter for this reason.
Familiar?
I'll admit it - I didn't rtfa, but here's my thoughts on all of these "X will make you go deaf" stories:
Yes, if you keep making things louder and louder, eventually you're going to experience hearing loss. Additionally, in my personal experience, listening to something in only one ear (like a cell phone, or a single-side headset) it will be much louder if the other ear isn't blocked (y'know, by sticking a finger in it), or listening to the same stuff.
I disagree with the blanket statements like "earbud heaphones cause hearing loss", though. I've been using a pair of Etymotic ER6i headphones (yes, they're earbuds), but the work on the concept of isolation from other outside noises. Think of a foam earplug with a decent heaphone in the center. Using those, I find I'm actually enjoying the quiet, and tend to play my music at a much *lower* volume than I would with more open headphones.
I'll create an amusing sig when I have something meaningful to post.
No matter how loud you can crank your stereo, several months of a crying baby in your house will make you appreciate the little bit of the quiet time you get.
You can listen to the Beatles loudly. You can listen to Queen loudly. You can listen to anything loudly, and people do. It's not just the top 40 crap that's on those MP3 players, you know.
I really don't see the point you're trying to make with that statement.
Goo goo g'joob.
your 2 main choices are etymotic or shure. I did a stack of research about a year ago, and in some ways it came down to what you like in your sound - each had certain advantages. With the Shures - don't go with models below the e3 however
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
shit, during the last few hours sittin here surfin, i've been listening to a few dozen Skinny Puppy songs, over a nice set of Cambridge Soundworks speakers. i keep finding myself turning up the volume every few minutes, until someone IMs me and the damn .wav blows my eardrums out. someone dumped a few albums of slayer and sepultura onto my flash drive the other day, and by the time i finished that off, my ears felt like i had just left a freakin concert. i almost wish i had a shitty sound system so that i coulnd't turn it up so loud, but i get too zoned out, and want to be pounded in the chest.
now everyone has so much music always available, in the car, on the computer, personal players, etc, i don't know how we can still hear anything. maybe that's good, cause i notice that i can't hear the annoying high pitch transformers anymore....
i disable sigs
Quit being lazy and edit the AIM .wav files. Mine are at 40% of their original volume and work well. I only hear them on the very first message of a chat.
As someone who works in the live audio industry, it pains me to see the people who stand directly in front of the speakers with no protection. Hearing loss is permanent and unpleasant. It's not something that just comes back.
Flying the other day, the guy sitting two seats across from me had his iPod turned up so loud that I could hear the drum rolls clearly, despite having 27dB drop earplugs in. For comparison's sake, when I listened (without the earplugs) to music for a little while when I worked on some code, I used a pair of Sony cheapie headphones. Held six inches from me, I couldn't hear the music above the noise of the airplane (again, without the earplugs).
The use of loud audio sources, both with portable audio devices and cell phones (I can often hear the sending side of a cell phone conversation from 15 feet away) is going to cause significant damage to the hearing of the "with it" generation.
For those curious why people are so intent on damaging their hearing, I'll give two facts:
1. People associate louder sound as being more impressive.
2. (partially related to 1) People perceive louder sound differently than softer sound. Our hearing system changes its frequency response based on how loud the source is, refered to as the Fletcher-Munson Curve(s).
The bottom line? Be aware of how loud you're listening to audio sources and protect yourself. Tinnitus is horrible (ringing in the ears), but it's also common to suffer damage in the 3-6 KHz range, where much of the understandability of speech is, leading to the situation of being able to hear but not make out what someone is saying. Turn down your cell phone and personal audio device, as well as your car stereo. If you're curious just how loud the audio in you life is, an SPL meter can easily be aquired at your local Rat Shack or online source. You might be surprised.
I'm always dissapointed when someone comes up with a great answer and then they're scoffed at for not using all the catch words. With a preamp mechanism (or compression), so simple now, advertisers can make things extra loud. In the past big content producers weren't so close to electronics manufacturers, but now the only new formats are being controlled by content producers. Both Toshiba and (especially) Sony are big in the electronics business and with Sony pushing DRM content, and Toshiba caving to the pressure there is a bad trend. Soon enough recording indutries will control the electronics makers as well as the artists. This will form a central control that dictates what a good user will do, instead of creating an experience that matches what users want.
Unfortunatly this trend will likely see the end of nice features like soft mute for when a radio commercial runs at kill_your_hearing_in_a_heartbeat_+10dB above the normal sound. Of course with video there are already unskippable previews for dvd's, which will only get worse with the extra proprietary HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.
Here's a question, and I'd like some insight. Can the recording industries really be so dumb as to think that users, professional hackers, and independent groups will just sit idly watching their art dissolve? What would be the motivation (if any) of intentionally creating a media black market? The old saying "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is", really isn't that far from "if it seems stupid, you're probably missing something."
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
I think the real culprit here is improper Volume (loudness) settings and not headphones/earbuds.
I have some real nice Princess Leia style headphones, and even though they totally surround the ear, I never set the volume so high that I can't hear someone speak to me with a normal tone of voice. Hearing loss runs in my family, so keeping a reasonable Volume setting is very important to me.
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Free your mind - Flush your toilet
Yeah, I understand what you mean by loud theaters, concerts, churches (geez loud), etc. Since I was born partially deaf and have to wear a bone conduction hearing aid, I have an advantage in these loud situations. I will just turn off or down my hearing aid. Funny, how even that is sometimes still loud. The problem with my hearing is when people talk even on microphone. That is never loud enough. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
You proved nothing. Perhaps if you cloned yourself and wore regular headphones with a dead left muff during the same time period you would have something (though it would still be anecdotal). At best you just gave a bit of evidence that headphones hurt hearing.
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WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
I agree with your general points here, specifically the parts about the "canalphones" being better. I think the article was saying basically what I think you're trying to say: the more noise that your headphones/earphones let in, the louder you will listen to the music to compensate.
If you want to hear your music at +60db over your ambient noise then at 40db ambient you'll be listening at 100db. If you use canalphones that block 30db of noise, you'll be at 70db. I'm fuzzy on the exact nature of decibel math - but the point is the same regardless of the numbers. Using my Shure E3c canalphones I have an almost silent background for my music, even on a plane.
You are exactly right - canalphones (or other noise blocking ear phones) are the best way to preserve your hearing.
However I think the article is right too - because ear buds block absolutly no outside noise you are forced to turn up the volume to compensate. Combined with the lack of frequency response (particularly bass) you turn it up even louder to get good sound.
So earbuds are bad for two reasons:
1) They do not block any outside noise causing music to be turned up louder to compensate
2) Poor frequency response causes the music to be turned up louder to get a more "full" sound.
Getting the "right" volume is hard when you're on a bus/train/treadmill/anywhere with background noise. With background noise then almost any volume where you can hear the music is too loud.
You can get earphones which block the background noise, but like, nobody does.
I don't mind ipod owners going deaf. It's my revenge for all the annoying psst psst noises they make sitting next to me. Can't anybody go anywhere or do anything without loud music these days?
No sig today...
My rule for volume was that if somebody standing near me can hear it, even if it's just a quiet hum or just the beat, it's too loud. Every once and a while my boyfriend tells me he hears voices, which is his way of telling me to turn down my audiobook's volume.
I have to disagree. I have some serious hearing loss due to listening to handheld music devices for most of my life. The nice incessent ringing in the background is a joy. Plus saying, "What did you say" about 100 times a week is rather bothersome. The worst part is the inability to hear when you're in a place with a lot of background noise. For example you cannot have a conversation in a restaurant without the people with you speaking very loudly. Not to mention people are always saying "tone it down" since I speak normally with an elevated level to hear myself (not intentionally).
Hearing loss is horrible, don't fuck with it.
First off, because they are custom molded to my ear, they don't put pressure on the ear canal in order to stay in place. Much more comfortable. The coolest thing is how they work though. When I first tried them on, I thought they weren't working very well. I could still hear everything just fine. It was rather odd. However, after wearing them a few times in high noise situations, I noticed something. When I left the noise...my ears weren't ringing. And that's the best part. I can hear everything and it sounds normal, and yet my ears are protected. Give 'em a try. Yes, they are expensive But they're protecting something you can't get back once you lose.
Stand clear of the doors. The doors are now closing.
Hear Hear. When I'm on the train and I can hear someone's music over my own, I know their volume is too high and I know they are destined for hearing loss. From the article:
And other studies have shown that because the tiny phones inserted into the ears are not as efficient at blocking outside sounds as the cushioned headsets, users tend to crank up the volume to compensate.
The trains are noisy and I found that I would have had to turn up the volume on my music so I could hear it. As a result, I have stopped listening to my music on the train for fear of hearing loss. Anything that means I need the volume at 10 or 11 means the ambient noise is too loud and I turn off the music.
This makes me worried about national health care. If it (national health care in the US) ever happens I know that my taxes will go up to pay for these fools who have hearing loss due to poor choices they are making now.
I think the problem here is that people don't know what is an acceptable volume level. It seems that the general consensus among younger people is if your wearing headphones, you should hear the music and the music only.. So they crank it up, but when your using those little earbuds, which put the speaker about 2cm (or less) from your eardrum and crank it up to >110db, of course its gonna be damaging to your hearing. Since their so small, your gonna hear more of the ambient noise around you, so to drain it out, they crank up the volume. I've been listening to music at work for about 2 years now, for 8 hours a day, and I've had no hearing problems whatsoever. I think it also helps to get those little fuzzy covers for the earbuds. -circut
All headphones suck. Do you really need preprogrammed entertainment piped into your sensory organs 24 hours a day? Listen to the music you find around you, don't cut yourself off from the world.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I remember reports on how listening to music through earphones/headphones/1000watt stereo etc could damage your hearing back in the days of the Sony walkman, i.e. 1978 or so. It's a slow new years eve week when they drag that one out of the closet, dust it off and send it around the block to shock gullible mommies and poppies before putting it back into cold storage for the next dull tech news week.
NEWSFLASH!!!!!! (OMG!) Extremely loud sound can damage your hearing.
Weep.
The problem with headphones, ear-buds and In-Ear Monitors is exactly that we've blocked out the world around us. Our brains use environmental queues to help warn us when something we hear is too loud - before the onset of physical pain. The brain can determine how loud somthing is based on how the sound interacts with the space we're in. The brain uses similar methods to determine which direction a sound is coming from. Our insticts kick in when it gets too loud and we want to stick our fingers in our ears, even though we don't because we'll look "too old."
Another issue (which doesn't seem to have been brought up yet) is duration of exposure. I don't recall the exact figures (ask OSHA), but the idea is this: your ears can only do so much work in a given period of time. Loud noises work your ears more than soft ones, but sustained moderate-volume noises can work your ears as much if not more than loud noises. Once your ears pass their "working" threshold, you will start to damage them. Every time you leave a loud environment (like when the Who is in town) and you notice your ears ringing, you're noticing new permanent hearing damage.
As we age, our ears gradually sustain more permanent damage. Contrary to what many believe, there is currently no way to repair or reverse hearing damage, only ways to work with it. Hearing aids simply amplify noises we can no longer detect (thereby hastening further damage) and cochlear implants effectively replace the natural inner ear mechanism with an artificial one which while allowing the person to hear again probably doesn't sound as "right" as the original did.
In addition to loudness, other factors can contribute to hearing loss. Cigarrette smoke, alcohol, poor diet, poor sleeping habits, and CAFFEINE all increase a person's risk for hearing loss.
I started playing the drums when I was 10 years old, and I didn't wear earplugs regularly until my early twenties when I was studying audio engineering at Berklee College of Music. I suffer from tinitus (cronic ringing of the ears) and I've found that in addition to a good diet and plenty of water, the best way to reduce the ringing is to avoid caffeine, consume alcohol only moderately, and avoid smoky environments. I've also found that if I know I'm going to be in a loud environment (like a concert, seminar, party, etc), I can protect my ears by maintaining a softer environment for the rest of the day - ie, not listening to loud music, wearing earplugs when I'm walking down a city street or on the subway or in the car, etc.
I think everyone who has concerns about their hearing could benifit from this.