(Credit:
Able Planet)
Here's something we haven't seen before: a headset designed to lessen the damaging effect loud music and gaming can potentially have on the ears. Able Planet introduced the PS500MM gaming headset back in December of 2008, claiming that the device's onboard "Link Audio" technology will soften the blow to your eardrums.
Basically the technology is supposed to prevent the user from having to raise the volume in order to drown out background noise. Interestingly enough, it was first developed for those with mild to severe hearing loss. AblePlanet claims it's patented Link Audio technology delivers all of the original audible content at a much softer volume by altering audio signals and "remixing" the original source on the fly.
The PS500MM is primarily designed for hardcore PC gamers who spend hours at a time fragging away. The included onboard microphone has built-in noise cancellation, and works with in-game chat as well as other applications, such as Skype conferencing. For the $100 price tag, you'll also get a wireless USB dongle, which will eliminate the need for a wired connection, and a soft carrying case. We'll be comparing the PS500MM with a pair of PC headsets we looked at last year.
Is this sort of technology something you'd want? Check back with CNET Reviews in the coming days for a full review to see if it's worth your hard-earned cash.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
"Justin...Justin...JUSTIN!!!"
This happens at least once a day...I'm at my desk, typing up a review or blog post on my computer, when all of a sudden someone sneaks up behind me and unintentionally make me jump 10 feet in the air with a simple tap on the back. How do I allow this to happen? Am I deaf? Well, not right now, but it's quite possible that I might be if I continue to constantly blast music out of my Princess Leia headphones.
A recent report out of Australia titled "Is Australia Listening?" reported 70 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 34 experience a constant ringing in their ears, which can be a symptom of permanent damage to the ear canal. The report goes on to claim that 76 percent of young adults in Australia listen to music through headphones on portable MP3 players, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a higher number in relation to the United States.
At 24, I represent the first generation to see the rise of portable music players. I remember when the headphones to my first Sony Walkman cassette player might as well have been glued to my ears. Since then, I've been addicted to personal, portable audio and I fear that I, along with the rest of my generation, will soon experience severe hearing loss due to years and years of listening to loud music through headphones. Professor Harvey Dillon of the Hearing Australia program says his general rule of thumb is if "people have to raise their voice or actually shout at you to make themselves understood while you are listening to music in your ears, then that is loud enough to be potentially damaging." As a self-professed audiophile, I take every opportunity to listen to my music. It moves along a boring work day, drowns out crazies on the subway, and helps put me to sleep at night. Some days, I feel like I spend more time with my headphones in than out. I also listen to a lot of different kinds of music, from hip-hop to metal to classical to Disney, but no matter what the genre, I must admit that I crank up the volume to the highest possible level to experience the bliss of surround sound. It sounds like my days of listening to music might be numbered...
But what about these new noise-cancelling and inner ear-canal headphones that are starting to pervade the industry? I wonder if those particular types of monitor earphones pose a greater danger than the over the ear style? Either way, my future doesn't look very bright. Are there any Millennials out there who have already started to experience hearing loss? I'd love to hear other opinions on how these listening trends will affect our health down the line.
(Credit:
Digital Recordings)
If you occasionally experience "ringing in the ears" after exposure to loud sounds or concerts, you may be losing your hearing. To find out where you stand check out Digital Recordings' hearing test CD. It can be used to set a baseline of your hearing, and if you're geeky enough, retest yourself the day after attending a loud concert, working with power tools, or riding a snowmobile. A few hours or even a day later your hearing acuity will be significantly reduced. It's kinda like a preview of what's to come, if you don't stop abusing your ears.
That short-term deafness is sometimes referred to as Temporary Threshold Shift (TTS). But repeated episodes of temporary hearing loss, with insufficient recovery times between exposures will eventually lead to permanent hearing loss. At that point there's no need to keep reading the Audiophiliac blog.
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Apple is developing a volume control device for its iPods that would automatically calculate how long a person has been listening and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level, all in an effort to protect users' hearing, according to the London-based Daily Mail.
Citing a new patent application, the report--to which Apple declined to comment--says the "device will also calculate the amount of 'quiet time' between when the iPod is turned off and when it is restarted, allowing the volume to be increased again to a safe level."
In February 2006, a Louisiana man filed a class action suit against Apple, saying the computer maker failed to take adequate steps to prevent hearing loss among iPod users. That was followed by warnings from politicians and researchers on hearing-loss hazards related to MP3 player use.
Apple responded by releasing a free software update for some iPods that lets listeners set a maximum volume limit. But we haven't heard much on the matter since.
Let's turn to rocker Pete Townshend for his foreshadowing quote: "I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal components deaf," he said on his Web site two years ago. "Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired. If you use an iPod or anything like it, or your child uses one, you MAY be OK...But my intuition tells me there is terrible trouble ahead."
(Credit:
Gizmodo)
Boring holiday meals spent with relatives provide plenty of time for idle thoughts like this: Where do earphones end and headsets begin? The answer to such pseudo-existential questions may lie in Argard's M10 Bluetooth headset, which is kind of the missing link of headgear.
Although the tiny device looks more like a shiny earbud, Argard says it provides three hours of talk time and 100 hours on standby, according to Gizmodo. Yet, while we're all for wireless technology wherever we can get it, we might be worried about this thing getting lost in our aural canal.
A California man is suing Motorola, claiming that it failed to warn consumers that using its Bluetooth headsets at high volume for long periods of time could be dangerous.
Martin Alpert filed a suit seeking class action status earlier this month. According to reports from Crain's and others, the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, alleges that Motorola had "actual and constructive knowledge" that its headsets "posed a serious risk of harm to consumers from noise-indiced hearing loss during the headsets' normal and intended use." The complaint states that Alpert "suffered injury," as a result of Motorola's "conduct," but it does not detail the nature of the damages.
Apparently, listening to anything above 85 decibels for longer than eight hours is bad for your hearing. At full volume, Motorola's H700 headset was tested at 82 to 106 decibels, according to a study by the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association cited in the suit. The lawsuit also contends that there's no way for consumers to easily tell exactly how many decibles are pumping out of the headset, so Motorola should stop selling 12 Bluetooth models until there is.
The HS830, H3, H300, H500, H605, H700, HS805, HS815, HS820, HS850, HT820 and N136 are advertised with promises of long talk time, the complaint says, without any accompanying indication that when turned up to full volume, using them for 10 hours at a time is a health hazard.
Mr. Alpert wants the money back that he spent on his headset, a warning label, and a noise meter to ensure this never happens to anyone. Maybe he really does have the good of consumers in mind. Or maybe he's just another one of those sue-happy Americans.
(Photo: Motorola)
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