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Welcome to irishhealth.com (9 Sep, 2010) Quickfind
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Hearing loss danger with iPods

[Posted: Fri 19/08/2005 - www.irishhealth.com]

The massive popularity of iPods and other portable music players could mean many more people will develop hearing loss, according to experts.

If the volume through headphones is too high, there is a real risk of permanent damage to hearing, they say.

Sydney's National Acoustic Laboratories found a quarter of personal music system users in a random sample listened to music at dangerous volumes.

Millions of people now own MP3 players and Apple has sold more than 20 million iPods.

A recent study by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) found 39% of 18 to 24-year-olds listened to personal music players for at least an hour every day and 42% admitted they thought they had the volume too high, according to the BBC News website.

The RNID regards 80 decibels as the level at which hearing is threatened - 20 less than a pneumatic drill.

Some MP3 players can reach 105 decibels. EU iPods have a sound limiter to comply with noise safety levels; however, sometimes users hack through this in order to listen to it louder.

The RNID said it was possible that any rise in popularity of personal music players might lead to more cases of hearing loss in the future.

Graham Frost, chairman of the British Society of Audiology, said the risk of damage increased with noise level and duration of use of personal music systems.

He said it could take months or years for that become apparent to the individual.

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  Anonymous   Posted: 19/08/2005 20:49
I'm only 16 and I do admit my hearing is damaged from listening to music too loud.
 
  robbo  Posted: 26/04/2007 14:30
so whats the safe limit for listening to a nana ipod??i know there is a limiter on so what should i set it too??anyone know??have to sort it as i am a musician in a band and listen to my ipod 4 hours on average, i am exposed to loud noise in my band but i am going to get muscian earplugs for this
 
  Lemmy  Posted: 26/04/2007 14:47
personally I prefer my music cranked up to 11 but as a basic guide to headphones, if you can't hear people talk beside you, your headphones are too loud
 
 
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