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iPods and Pacemakers Don't Mix
fermion writes "The Register reports a study that indicates that iPods and pacemakers do not get along. While there do not appear to be any long term effects, iPods disrupt the operation of the pacemaker. It is noted that such effects have not previously been observed as iPods do seem to be popular with the pacemaker-wearing population."
Despite them being by far the most popular portable digital player, why would this focus purely on the ipod? how can they possibly be doing this, and it not be a problem for other players?
"It is noted that such effects have not previously been observed as iPods do seem to be popular with the pacemaker-wearing population." Is this a typo?
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." - Bob Dylan
In further investigation it was found this effect is present only in the new fifth generation iPods when the red light is on. Apple has denied plans for world domination by sending signals to iPods to control peoples minds. "Ridiculous", said an Apple spokesman "Our brain control waves are on a totally different wavelenth than the heart stopping killer waves" Inestigators have also come across reports of a single iPod mini going around turning off the waves
**Life is too short to be serious**
And why are you returning this product today sir ? Has it quit functioning properly ? Would you like to trade it in for a new one ?
Nah, it killed grandpa, I want my money back.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Yeah, that's the problem with this thing.
I originally tried it out with some favorite DeathSpeedMetal tunes, but alas, it induced extreme fibrillation- had to reload my iPacemaker with neil diamond. Now I can't even get out of my chair from in front of my computer.
Oh well, nothing lasts forever. *sigh*
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
so this is a valid study? a 17-year-old high school student tested 100 pacemaker-wearing subjects with only iPods (and no other MP3 devices)..... yeah...
...we are from the government - we are here to help...
iPods obviously meet FCC regulations for RF emissions.
The real concern is why pacemakers are made so they are susceptible to such interference. What happens when a user is exposed to an intentional RF radiator, which would be expected to put out much more power, and consequently cause problems at much greater distance?
It should be obvious that more study must be done - at what frequencies are pacemakers most affected? Might an 802.11 device, for example, be even more disruptive?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
They did try to do the same study with the Zune, but were unable to find anyone to participate
Between the falling angel and the rising ape
It's because the iPod has DRM.
(not only that; you should see how long it takes to copy a 17 megabyte file from an ipod to a pacemaker!)
"Look at that guy dancing to his iPod..."
"He's not dancing, he's having a coronary!"
"Either way, he's got good rhythm!"
how can they possibly be doing this, and it not be a problem for other players?
Well, for one thing, the touch-sensitive scroll-wheel is somewhat (though certainly not completely) unique. They use capacitive touch sensing. They utilize a low-voltage, low current AC voltage to measure the change in capacitance when you move your finger over the sensor. The googles say 102kHz is common.
My "second generation" nano produces a high-pitched noise whenever it's on- it's noticeable if you have it within 2 feet or so of your head. I'm pretty sure it is the inverter that generates the AC current, but if it's 120kHz, that shouldn't be possible, unless there's a resonant frequency in the audible range.
Maybe the sensor just happens to use a frequency that confuses pacemakers. Now that Apple is aware of the problem, they might do some testing and change it on future iPods.
Please help metamoderate.
I'm an engineer who works for a pacemaker company, and from what I've understood on this hype, the iPod is just disrupting communication with the cardiologist's programming station. "The equipment to misread the heart's pacing" is misunderstood as the pacemaker missing the heart's pace, but I believe it much more likely to be the programming station missing the real time EKG stream to the programming station. With the exception of that lone device, I bet the rest of the pacemakers paced and performed as properly as they could with a noisy communication channel. The communication protocols for the devices I've worked on are often wrapped with many parity checks and CRCs. And yes, modern pacemakers are even run through lengthy tests of randomly hitting them with a multitude of communication errors to make sure these situations are covered.
So in short, this is just a poorly written and misleading article that is going to feed off the public's misunderstanding of technology.
heart-felt music....
(Captcha: "leaking")
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Despite the fact that you've been modded into oblivion, I'll respond because it's a fairly common belief that people with heart problems requiring a pacemaker are always restricted in terms of their cardiovascular activity. In fact, pacemakers are often prescribed to treat symptoms such as exercise intolerance, and the patients who have them can often exercise just as vigorously as anyone else (barring other physical problems). A quick googling turned up this American Heart Association paper which details many of the common misconceptions associated with pacemaker use.
I'm 31 and I've got a pacemaker (implanted when I was 17) and I have not experienced any problems when using my 5th generation iPod. I don't keep the iPod on top of my pacemaker, either, but I can't recall ever having a problem when using the iPod. I use lots of wireless devices as well (blackberry pearl, MS wireless keyboard, bluetooth headset, etc) and don't experience any problems. Again, as the manufacturers of the devices and the pacemakers recommend, I usually keep the devices a few inches from the pacer (and most often use the phone on the ear opposite the pacer implant location).
The study should include information about the pacer models and manufacture dates...perhaps these were very old units.
I work for a pacemaker company and have personally seen the vast amount of engineering and V&V that goes into a new pacemaker. Pacemakers aren't just slapped together by a 4 or 5 guys in a weekend, and the FDA says "Yeah that looks about right." They are built over the course of years, by teams of dozens and dozens of hardware and software engineers with a mind numbing amount of V&V. Then the FDA goes through their literally thousands of test results with a fine tooth comb.
That said, I think the biggest problem I could see happening is if an external device somehow managed to fake out a "wake up and communicate" pulse and caused an unnecessary power drain on the pacemaker.
neil diamond
Still searching for that artificial heart of gold, eh? I know the feeling.
stated in the article, or any reference to this issue that I can find. Can you provide a cite to back that up? If it were true, the the title would be even more misleading, since it's not all iPods, but is all harddrives.
The article is misleading, yes, but it is not the magnet that's doing the interference. In 1995 cell phones were also found to interfere with pacemakers at the same range. This is not news, there are a number of devices that can interfere with pacemakers -- all patients with pacemakers already know this.
msuave: Yes, a pacemaker or defibrillator is essentially inside a faraday cage already. They are generally titanium or steel encased, and designed to resist most radiation fields that are encountered in everyday life. However, faraday cages are not perfect, and the pacemaker has to have leads come out to thread into the heart. Just as you can use your cellphone inside a metal plane (also a faraday cage), some degree of radiation will be seen by the pacemaker electronics. In general, these devices are programmed by placing a wand over the device which essentially communicates by RF to the internal device -- if it was a perfect cage, it couldn't even be reprogrammed except by physically accessing the device (e.g. minor surgery.)
AC: Agreed regarding the sensationalism. Our practice tells EVERY pacemaker and defib recipient a list of things they should and shouldn't do. We counsel patients to hold their cellphone in their RIGHT hand and only crunch it between their right shoulder and ear, as almost all pacemakers are implanted on the left side. In general microwaves are ok, and patients are given a letter and card for the airport, where they can be wanded. Quite clearly, if somebody puts another RF emitting device RIGHT ON TOP of the implant, it could cause some interference. No, this is not unique to ipods. Again, if you actually talk to grandpa, I'm sure he knows this, especially if he was implanted by us. :) This "research" is quite ridiculous.
Finally, agreed regarding the description of the findings -- if it is just interrupting transmission of data to the programmer, this is a lot less dangerous than scrambling the internal signal seen by the pacemaker. The pacemakers are designed to recognize noise, again for the expected interference as noted above, and can handle this using many filters (e.g. something at 60 Hz is probably NOT coming from your body.)
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Vetran slashdotter, ID #101.
Wait, UIDs are not in binary?
Slashdotter, ID #101. UIDs are in binary, right?
While there do not appear to be any long term effects, iPods disrupt the operation of the pacemaker.
I don't understand this sentence. Oh wait, this is slashdot.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
First off, the various standards only set a maximum limit for interference. It is practically impossible to eliminate it entire and the iPod certainly emits its fair share. Secondly, since the heart's electrical signals do not generate very much current, the pacemaker's sensing leads are necessarily very sensitive. They are so sensitive that they will pick up interference from nearby EMI sources. It's a known problem with the fundamental concept of a pacemaker. The manufacturers do their best to protect against it, but mostly the only thing you can do is maintain physical distance.
I think the problem here is simple: joke - funny = stupid statement. You got caught in the whirlwind is all.
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