Tech | October 13, 2008 | 41 comments

EU warns youth: turn your MP3 players down!

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Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned Monday.

The scientists' study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of "leisure noise," saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels, with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism.

"There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality," the Commission, the EU's executive arm, said in a statement.

"Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time," it said. More and more young people were exposed to the significant threat that leisure noise posed to hearing, it said.

Commission experts estimate that between 50 and 100 million people listen to portable music players on a daily basis.
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41 comments // EU warns youth: turn your MP3 players down!

  • IMMININT
    • 0
      IMMININT  
    • Image
    • If you insist on earbuds, spend the money. It's obvious you'll be using these headphones all of the time if you're at risk for hearing loss. At least get the most out of your experience.

    • 3 years ago
  • tiffany_israel
  • DoubleHeadedEagle
  • dankitti
    • 0
      dankitti  
    • That's not exactly what you think of when you think about rock music. Crank it DOWN! Not too loudly, please. Apparently, it IS good advice, though.

    • 3 years ago
  • breathexelectric
    • 0
      breathexelectric  
    • i'm listening to some metal right now on full blast. i should stop but it's just too awesome. :D

      plus, i'm already losing my hearing in my right ear so what's the point?

    • 3 years ago
  • BLAMM_O
    • 0
      BLAMM_O  
    • In similar news, 8 out of 10 scientists agree that voting republican can cause rapid hair loss over a span of 13 years.

      Listen to your music at reasonable levels. Vote Democrat. Good night, and good luck.

    • 3 years ago
  • yonie
    • 0
      yonie  
    • You might find it a nobrainer, but i run into kids daily that have their music so loud i can hear it from a few metres away.

    • 3 years ago
  • oblivious
    • 0
      oblivious  
    • "Preliminary data on iPods and similar devices have found lower maximum levels -- above 100 decibels (the noise volume of a chainsaw; risk of hearing damage after two hours), but not higher than 115 decibels (a football game in a loud stadium; risk of hearing damage after 15 minutes), Fligor said. To fully understand the potential impact of these devices, it is important to know that the sound is traveling a tiny distance from your earbud to your eardrum rather than being diffused in a football stadium or concert arena." -Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011601100....

    • 3 years ago
  • lifestudentno83
    • 0
      lifestudentno83  
    • It's possible that young people listening to loud music has a lot to do with the rebellious nature of youth in addition to the enjoyment of the music. If that's the case, then telling them to turn down their music may just make them want to turn it up even more.

      Once they get a little older, they might decide to stop blasting the volume. However, if they want to listen to their headphones loudly a medical study is not going to stop them.

    • 3 years ago
  • satanskidney
    • 0
      satanskidney  
    • people have already been hit and killed by cars because theyre too busy fiddlin around with their ipod and now this. clearly loud music is the devil.

    • 3 years ago
  • edogg_444
  • IMMININT
  • nkeg87
    • 0
      nkeg87  
    • Just wait until we all get past 70 and 80...MiracleEar will be banking!

      And not only does it damage, I've read that it increases the bacteria in your ear.

    • 3 years ago
  • TravG73
  • Swiyyah
  • xenothaulus
  • Moopak
  • vindiom
    • 0
      vindiom  
    • I feel that sound-isolation technology in headphones is actually helping though. They allow you to leave the volume lower than traditional headphones, so you aren't hurting yourself as much. However, a lot of these are earbuds, and I read that they're worse for your ears than over-the-ear headphones.

    • 3 years ago
  • stopnoise
    • 0
      stopnoise  
    • This generation has not been educated about the negative affects of excessive acoustic sound. So they became a challenge and a liability to others and to themselves.

    • 3 years ago
  • CoolSpazz
    • 0
      CoolSpazz  
    • its true i didn't kno i had my ipod on too loud until last year when my friend told me she could hear my music. So now im very careful with how high i put it on. and right now my ears feel more sensetive. im addicted to music it gets me throo hard times. but i think i listen to my ipod too much now. i listen to it everyday of the week. which i think is more then 5 hours. so this is a little informative 4 me.

    • 3 years ago
  • IMMININT
    • 0
      IMMININT  
    • Speaking from the perspective of a Nightclub DJ, I've experienced a lot of "Loud" situations with headphones and I'll say this...

      The biggest problem with mp3 players is that most people do not have the quality of headphones they desire to hear music from. Generally speaking, most people just buy the cheap earbuds or clip-on headphones and then just crank the volume up. The real key is getting a good set of earbuds to last you awhile and with good noise reduction and bass response so that you can really enjoy your music without the excess volume.

    • 3 years ago
  • Bwittany
    • 0
      Bwittany  
    • IMMININT:

      thanks for the info.
      i shall get off my addiction to going through cheap headphones.
      one of the buds always starts buzzing after a few months! does anyone else get that??

    • 3 years ago
  • peaceduck25
  • ChristmasAsen
  • gem7007
  • Bwittany
  • Saladin
  • erodut
  • satanskidney
    • 0
      satanskidney  
    • Saladin:

      dont waste your money... invest in some biological developements company who will make new ears and ear drums. most of my friends are relying on science to get them out of this jam.

    • 3 years ago
  • erodut
    • 0
      erodut  
    • Yes, this IS serious...but it shouldn't be a surprise.... who knew that feeding high volumes of sound directly into your ears could cause damage? Ask any musician...most of them have learned the hard way.

    • 3 years ago
  • petarro
    • 0
      petarro  
    • It is not common sense, it is not odd and is not sporadic.

      People's headphones are stronger than the tube itself or anything around. It's incredibly loud.

      This is serious.

    • 3 years ago
  • tanyetta
  • yayi1
  • erodut
  • localsly
  • cassandrajl
  • KefKef
    • 0
      KefKef  
    • One of the problems is CD are made to be louder then needs to be (and quality suffers [Metallica's new album is an example.]) Everyone I know who has an mp3 is in trouble of this.

    • 3 years ago
  • vertecouverture
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