Years ago, when walkman cassette tapes started to dominate young adults, there was a clear warning that using the earphones too much could cause permanent hearing loss. Some heeded it but those that really didn’t care, which is the case for almost everyone, went on their lives with blaring headphones. I was one of those kids during those times that were given the best gift of all times – a walkman. It never left me and the earphones I had were the earmuffs with noise cancellation. That was blaring the whole day and I don’t think I can hear less after months of using it.
And now it’s back again, this time warning us that too much music played directly to our ears could be very dangerous. But this time, the target is different: the danger is not in the giant headphones with noise cancellation but in the earbuds that comes with Apple’s overwhelming MP3 player, the iPod. The scientific explanation that is supposed to come with it is that using the earbuds instead of those bulky noise cancelling ones adds 9 decibels to the volume. The report is quite scary as it claims that an hour of this blaring sound can cause considerable damage for your ears, permanently.
Unfortunately, I really have to go against this study. I myself don’t have an iPod but I have an MP3 player that can easily match the capacity of it. I have been using this gadget almost everyday and I don’t listen to classical music, jazz, or any smooth listening ones. The blaring constantly shouting with crazy guitar riffs are always in my list, but I don’t really think the earbuds I have have lessened my ability to hear things.
The warning even continued and zoomed in to the iPods since the intensity of the music (we translate that as the bit rate) is likely more higher than other players. I would also like to answer that. The bit rate is not dictated by the iPod but by the music that we download to our players.
But we have to acknowledge that unprotected use of our ear is really dangerous and we have to be careful or else we could lose our sense of hearing. The bad thing in losing your hearing is that it can’t be healed and will not go back in your lifetime.
What you need to watch out is not how much you listen to your MP3 player but how you use them. Our ear will somehow adjust to the volume but not too much. It’s even more dangerous when you’re using noise cancelling earphones. Watch out in placing it in your ear in an abrupt manner as the air will be pressured to your ear. The next thing that you should always remember is to check the volume before you even put them in your ear. Look out for the abrupt change of volume from very low to very loud.
An earphone could be your friend or your foe. Make sure it’s in your side so that you’ll keep your ear functioning and functioning well.
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I myself like to listen to music loud on my iPod, it makes it a better experience but I had never considered what it could do to my hearing. I may have to re-consider next time I spin that wheel during a song.
Comment by Ryan — October 1, 2007 @ 4:11 pm