Comments on: Scientists say 1 in 10 iPod users could go deaf

European Union scientists declare that 1 in 10 MP3 listeners could lose their hearing because they're playing their music too loud.

[karpenterskids]

Just as I started to seriously consider updating my 1st generation Ipod to a 4th generational one...along come the deafness concerns.

Sadly enough, true or not, the scare tactics appear to be working on me.
As someone who already has less-than-perfect vision, the last thing I need when I'm 60 is to be blind AND deaf.

I value my hearing too much.
This news may very well keep me from buying an ipod.

[sythara]

lol

[MaggieRed]

Gee common sense says don't turn it up so that your brains are turning to mush. Same goes for rock concerts, standing next to a jet engine, super low bass blasting in cars, etc. etc.

For those who are concerned use a regular pair of headsets that fit over the ear rather than something stuck into the ear, and for gawd sakes don't turn it up MAX!

[Penguinisto]

Pfft! They were complaining about this when Walkmen first came out, and were probably saying the same thing about boom boxes as well.

@karpenterskids: If you're not intelligent enough to operate a volume control wheel on an iPod, maybe you really shouldn't get one? It's not like you need the relflexes of a fighter pilot to set the volume to a cozy level then flip the lock switch, now is it?

/P

[karpenterskids]

It's not that simple.
I'm no volume/music expert, but from what I've heard, the way ipod earbuds play music close to your eardrum is more dangerous than the same volume played from a speaker farther away.

You may hear the same sound intensity, but one causes more hearing loss than the other.

So maybe I could get an ipod, and simply use old-fashioned, over-the-ear headphones. idk

[OwenL2020]

I started with in-ear bud earphones when I was about eight. My mother even listened to them. So I would Walk-Man (remember those?) it around town while I was skateboarding or biking. Then it changed to a Disc-man, but the earphones stayed the same. Then it was a CreatiVe Zen Micro. Then, eventually, an iPod.

The style of phones have not changed, but now they are Shures and I can block external noise and get just the music, which means I listen to a lot lower level.

Over the years, I've been told many times my hearing was doomed. But I haven't noticed an insurgency of "huh's" in my speech.

[reyes89]

The ipod doesnt make you deaf they just featured it because its the most widely used mp3 player, listening to music very loud does make you deaf just buy your new ipod and keep the volum below 80% with earphones.

[sythara]

Folks be warned!

Listening to loud music can make you go deaf!

Who the frak writes these thisng that are obvious to any 1st grader? And now link ipod to deafness? Well gee, living is bad for you because people tend to die from it. So stop living now!

[Skep]

"Who the frak writes these thisng that are obvious to any 1st grader? "

Actually, first graders don't know that listening to loud music can make them deaf. Most people have heard it but their own short term experience says that it isn't true, so they ignore the warnings. It is only cumulative exposure that results in hearling loss, so people realize too late. This is exactly the kind of waring people need and you, for some reason, see fit to condemn it. Are you in some sort of pro-hearing loss group? Do you sell hearing aids for a living? Once can't help wonder what interest you have in condemning a valuable and timely evidence-based public warning...

[f.arenas]

you are going to the xtreme, you are taking everything out of context.

[oribetty]

LMAO! Great post :)

[povich]

What a moronic pile of crap - and old FUD at that.. Geeze, if you drive too fast in a car you can get killed. If you drink too much you can get drunk. And if you keep it up too long you'll become an alcoholic. If you go to too many concerts you can go deaf. How about we agree to this: use common sense and stop advocating nanny-state behavior. That's why God made the volume control. Sheesh

[povich]

What a moronic pile of crap - and old FUD at that.. Geeze, if you drive too fast in a car you can get killed. If you drink too much you can get drunk. And if you keep it up too long you'll become an alcoholic. If you go to too many concerts you can go deaf. How about we agree to this: use common sense and stop advocating nanny-state behavior. That's why God made the volume control. Sheesh

[mmntech]

I can see the late night commercials now. "Has the iPod made you deaf? Call us, the ambulance chasing specialists. We'll get the money you deserve." Duh loud music makes you deaf. I know from personal experience since my dad is partially deaf from that. He did it to himself back in the 70s with his headphones, long before iPod existed.

[lmychajluk]

The other day I was on the NYC subway, and I could hear the music clearly from the MP3 player of the woman across the car from me. She'll be going deaf, but that's her just being stupid. I think the vast majority of users have some semblence of common sense. As others have pointed out, personal music players like the Sony Walkman have been around for over 30 years. Every time there's some new fad, someone manages to go out and get a govornment grant to confirm what people already know, and the stupid mainstream media eats it up and runs stories about the sky falling...

[gsna_dkm]

"Scientists say 1 in 10 iPod users could go deaf"

Hmmmm. How does this compare to the rate of deafness in people who are mp3-free? Somehow, I'm willing to bet the ratio is the same OR HIGHER for non-users of mp3 players.

[grissomb]

This has nothing to do with ipods, and completely to do with how people listen to their music.

I have an ipod and I turn it down to the smallest volume it allows (as in, one more move of the wheel and the volume is OFF) -- and it's still a little too loud for what I want. If you get noise-isolating earphones and turn down the volume, you're doing yourself a HUGE favor

[f.arenas]

Isn't an ipod issue, worst, this is for all the music listeners.

Congrats, you are doing well with your ears listening music at that volume.

[HlLLARY CLITON]

Obama promises to regulate the volume in mp3 players

[fredtheviking]

Well, i had a cd player and mp3 player for well over 7 years. I am not sure what the status of my hearing is. Perhaps I should take a hearing test. I know I am not deaf, but I do have difficultity hearing my soft-spoken GF sometimes. It even a source of tension between with me telling her to speak more loudly and her not wanting to raise her voice.

[csUser]

Ipods making you deaf? News at 11. They ran a story yesterday that says listening to loud music could hinder your hearing, and last night I saw the aforementioned headline on a commercial for the local news. Then today I check CNet and lo and behold, another "go deaf" headline.

What's next?

[f.arenas]

It's true. I'm a music lover. And I'm half of those ten mp3 player's users (you'll now lines down). First the Walkman, then the disc man, and now the mp3 player. It doesn't matter if th player is a 4th generation player or is just an FM player, the problem is the loud sound.

My coment grew up into a <a href="http://unoconcatorce.blogspot.com/2008/10/mp3-players-users-are-getting-deaf.html">post</a>.

[ZephyrVolta]

I don't understand this widespread clamor. I always thought it was common sense that loud sounds could hurt your hearing. I don't see why this applies specifically to iPod users, but really all these announcements don't come as a shock to me, and I don't get how it could possibly come as a shock to other people.