iPods, mp3 Players are linked to Hearing Loss
Posted by Debbie Adlof on May 19th, 2008
iPods, mp3 Players and Hearing Loss
Evidence continues to mount that personal listening devices can cause hearing loss.
It’s estimated that 12.5% of children ages 6-19 (about 5.2 million) have noise-induced hearing loss.
At OSF Saint Francis Medical Center , May is “Better Hearing and Speech Month.”
Users listen to iPods or mp3 players continuously for hours without needing to change a CD or recharge. They often turn up the volume on these devices in order to overcome “NOISE” such as lawnmowers, buses, street noise and airplane engines to name a few.
Safe exposure limit for one day: 85 decibels for 8 hours. Lawn mower noise is about 80-85 decibels. If an mp3 player and/or iPod is used while mowing, the user will like turn the volume loud enough to hear the music which may put the output of the device at approximately 100 -105 decibels. At that level, listening should only be for 8 -15 minutes. A typical vacuum cleaner emits 70 - 85 decibels. Every time the volume is increased by 3 decibels, listening for half as long will produce the same risk of hearing loss.