Can you hear me now?

   It's impossible to walk across a college campus, sit in an airport lounge or sip on a mocha latte at a coffee shop and avoid seeing thin, white cords hanging down from someone's ears.

   IPods and other brands of MP3 players are everywhere, and users spend hours listening to songs and podcasts or watching videos on them.

   Now audiologists are warning that people are spending too much time listening to the personal music players, at too high a volume, and as we say in our story, this could lead to hearing loss.

   A European Union scientific committee found that people who listen to MP3 players at a high volume for more than one hour per day each week are risking permanent hearing loss after about five years.

   This could affect between 5 to 10 percent of MP3 player owners, according to the EU report, or millions of people in this country alone.

   While an industry group and organizations that promote safe listening have launched an educational campaign, many iPod and MP3 player users don't seem to take the warnings all that seriously.

   Are you worried about the prevalence of MP3 players, particularly among high school-age or younger children?

   Have you ever walked past someone and heard the tune they're listening to on their ear buds?

   Should manufacturers of MP3 players do more to limit the maximum volume level on their devices, and should government step in if they won't?

   Or are concerns about hearing loss overblown and reminiscent of the unfounded fears that people who listened to boomboxes, or Walkmen or records on turntables would go deaf?

   --- Stephen T. Watson

Comments

[Buffalo Libertarian]

Mr. Watson, why in the world would you even suggest that somehow it's the manufacturer's fault? Why isn't the person using the ear buds responsible for keeping the volume at a less-harmful level?

Besides, have you EVER known young people to give a rat's behind about what some old person (anyone over 30) says about the volume of the music?

[who cares]

I listeng to my Ipod everyday on the bus on the way to work. When the High School kids get on ...up goes the volume so I can drown out their foul language, their rude attitudes etc.

[Libby56]

The manufacturers should be forced to step in and limit the volume on iPods when Lays invents a self-closing bag that closes after you've had...what, 11 chips?...which is one serving. To save us from ourselves, you know. No, no, Mr. Watson, the government shouldn't mandate iPod manufacturers prevent users from raising the volume on their iPods, just as the government should continue to allow ME to decide when I've had enough of Lays' excellent, but fattening in excess, product.

[Lydia Bezou-Hojnacki]

And some high school and middle school kids think their teachers don't notice that their ears are wired up. That's why kids fail. It's not the schools that are failing, it's the kids who are FAILING THEMSELVES!

[Beth Palka]

In the pre-iPOD days I had headphones glued to my ears all through high school and college. I began wearing hearing aids at the age of 26.

$200 for an iPOD? Try $2,000+ for hearing aids (on the cheap end) which most insurance carriers don't cover. The good news is that hearing aid manufacturers are trying to make them more fashionable. So when your ear-buds are replaced with hearings aids, you can still look cool.

I was aware of the dangers of loud music through headphones, but thought I really wasn't doing that much harm. I figured if I was damaging my hearing, it wouldn't show up until I got old. If only I knew then what I know now ...

[Chad]

Should the manufacturers step in? Sure, but only in the form of a warning in the manual (simiilar to the seizure warning found with video games), they could also go back to the volume limiting switch that Sony had on the CD and cassette Walkmans years back. Maybe institue an age limit where you need a parent/guardian present to purchase one under the age of 16, this would at least give the parent the chance to inform the kids about the dangers.

Should the government step in? Absolutely not. They already have their hands in too much now that they can't handle. Leave 'em out of it. If you are an adult, at the very basic level, common sense should tell you that loud noises can hurt you. If you are too ignorant to see that then shame on you. I will readily admit that the headphones were glued to my ears in high school and I've been to dozens of concerts standing in front of the speakers. I do have some hearing loss, but here's the difference: I ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY ACTIONS. I don't blame Sony, or Bose or Slayer for my hearing loss, only myself.