As Suzanne Wyatt of The EAR Foundation recently discussed here on MyHearingHealth, it's important to educate yourself about the risk of noise induced hearing loss from mp3 players. Not only is it important to educate yourself, but you need to take the next step and exercise caution with how loud and for how long you listen to your iPod. A new research study, presented last week in Cincinnati, provides some practical guidelines for doing just that.
The study, presented by Audiologist Brian Fligor and Audiology doctoral candidate Cory Portnuff at the "Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Children at Work and Play" conference, lays out "recommended listening times" for iPod users. So, how long can you sing that song? The short answer is: it depends. It depends on the volume level, of course, but also on the type of earphones you're wearing.
Portnuff and Fligor started by comparing the sound output levels of five different mp3 players, including three versions of the iPod, the Creative Zen Micro and the SanDisk Sansa. Each device produced similar decibel (dB) levels, ranging from about 50 dB at the 10% volume setting up to about 100 dB at 100%. They also compared the sound levels of different types of earphones, finding that in-ear earbuds produced output levels averaging 5.5 decibels more than over-the-ear headphones.
Their recommendations (view the chart) were surprising--at a 50% volume setting, you can listen for an unlimited amount of time without a substantial risk to your hearing. Typically, the "loudness" of any sound effectively doubles for every additional 3 decibels of sound output, so the safe listening times decrease exponentially as you increase the volume. At an 80% volume level, you can listen with standard earbuds for only 1.5 hours without damaging your hearing. That time drops to just 22 minutes at 90% volume and a mere 5 minutes at 100%. Listening times are even shorter when using isolating earbuds such as those made by Etymotic and Shure.
So, how loud are you listening? And for how long?
It was an important question for me, as a music lover. My iPod Nano is my favorite traveling companion--it's not unusual for me to listen for the duration of a flight, whether it's a short trip up to Chicago or cross-country to California. Fortunately, I've learned to be careful, so I can listen safely for a lifetime. I hope you'll do the same.
Posted by John Hawbaker, Clarity
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