[Trombone-l] Is music to their ears a threat to hearing?

[Jeff Albert]

Well, ear buds are standard issue on many devices.  My Silent Brass  
came with ear buds, my mini-disc came with ear buds.  Walkmans were  
coming with those funky Sony phones that went into your ear in the  
late 80's.  My point is that none of these issues are iPod specific,  
or even digital music player specific, which makes  it look like a  
case of people picking on the big guy because he is popular and has  
lots of money.

Jeff
On Mar 15, 2006, at 10:25 PM, Doug Rowe wrote:

> Yes, folks have had head phones for a long time, but I think the  
> biggest
> change are the "ear buds."  While these were available before, they  
> were
> not "standard equipment" like they are with the iPod.  Regular
> headphones are not inserted into the ear, and allow for some of the
> audio to bleed into the outside world (with the exception of the big
> muffin type that covered the entire ear).  The ear buds are pressed
> further into the ear, closer to the inner ear.  There just isn't as  
> much
> physical space for the sound to dissipate between the ear bud  
> output and
> the auditory cells that can be easily damaged.  Since the ear buds are
> standard equipment, more people are using them, but at the same volume
> as with the head phones.  Thus more people damaging their hearing.  Or
> something along those lines.
>
> d.
>
>
>
> Jeff Albert wrote:
>> People have had portable players with headphones since the 80's.   
>> Are they
>> saying Walkmans didn't make kids deaf because they had to stop to  
>> change the
>> tape?  I agree that there can be hearing issues with headphone  
>> listening,
>> but it is not new or unique to the iPod.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> On 3/15/06, Mikel K. Smith <mikelksmith at verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>>> I have to wonder if the manufacturers aren't setting them up for  
>>> a rash of
>>> lawsuits a'la big tobacco... "But they didn't warn me that it  
>>> would make
>>> me
>>> deaf"...
>>>
>>> Mikel
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: trombone-l-bounces at maillists.samford.edu
>>> [mailto:trombone-l-bounces at maillists.samford.edu]On Behalf Of Bill
>>> Dinwiddie
>>> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 11:23 AM
>>> To: List Trombone
>>> Subject: [Trombone-l] Is music to their ears a threat to hearing?
>>>
>>>> From today's Chicago Tribune. I think it is highly relevant to
>>> trombonists
>>> and others.
>>> Bill Dinwiddie
>>> billdin at comcast.net
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Is music to their ears a threat to hearing?
>>> iPods are convenient, hip and possibly the reason some teens,  
>>> young adults
>>> show signs of hearing loss
>>>
>>> By Frank James
>>> Washington Bureau
>>> Published March 15, 2006
>>>
>>>
>>> WASHINGTON -- A disturbing number of high school students and  
>>> adults are
>>> reporting early signs of hearing loss, and hearing experts think  
>>> they know
>>> the culprits: iPods and similar portable devices that allow  
>>> people to
>>> funnel
>>> loud sounds into their ears for hours on end.
>>>
>>> More research is needed to conclusively establish the link  
>>> between the
>>> cords
>>> dangling from millions of ears and hearing difficulties. But  
>>> scientists
>>> suspect the increasing prevalence of the devices is contributing  
>>> to the
>>> rising number of people reporting some form of hearing loss.
>>>
>>> Fears and debates about loud music have been around since the  
>>> dawn of rock
>>> 'n' roll, of course, from Elvis Presley to the Beatles, Black  
>>> Sabbath to
>>> Nirvana.
>>>
>>> But the leaps in technology that are allowing commuters on a bus  
>>> or kids
>>> walking to high school to feel like they're at a deafening  
>>> concert are
>>> also
>>> channeling ever higher volumes of music more directly, and  
>>> longer, onto
>>> eardrums.
>>>
>>> Hearing experts who called a news conference here Tuesday to  
>>> voice their
>>> fears didn't use the words "crisis" or "epidemic," but it was  
>>> clear they
>>> were worried about the results of a survey conducted last month  
>>> by the
>>> polling firm Zogby International.
>>>
>>> Survey worries experts
>>>
>>> Twenty-eight percent of high school students questioned said they  
>>> had to
>>> turn up the volume on a TV or radio to hear it better, for  
>>> example, and 29
>>> percent of the teenagers said they often found themselves saying,  
>>> "What?"
>>> and "Huh?" during normal conversation.
>>>
>>> Though that may sound like ordinary behavior for some teenagers,
>>> audiologists are taking it seriously, especially because the adult
>>> percentages weren't much lower.
>>>
>>> "The results should give pause to anyone who's concerned about the
>>> nation's
>>> hearing health," said Alex Johnson, president of the American
>>> Speech-Language-Hearing Association, based in Rockville, Md. The  
>>> survey
>>> was
>>> conducted for the group.
>>>
>>> "While the cause of the symptoms was not identified, the polling  
>>> showed
>>> that
>>> people are listening louder and longer--habits made easier by  
>>> strides in
>>> listening technology, but ones that may also contribute to hearing
>>> damage,"
>>> said Johnson, chairman of the audiology and speech-language  
>>> pathology
>>> department at Wayne State University.
>>>
>>> The polling results and warnings mirror concerns voiced by other  
>>> hearing
>>> experts in recent years. These experts estimate that more than 28  
>>> million
>>> Americans have some hearing loss, a figure that some think will  
>>> reach 80
>>> million in 25 years as Baby Boomers age.
>>>
>>> Johnson and others suggested that consumers take precautions,  
>>> including
>>> parents monitoring the volume of the music as well as how long their
>>> children listen to it.
>>>
>>> The experts also recommended consumers buy the often pricey  
>>> headphones
>>> that
>>> block out external sounds like subway or airplane noise, the idea  
>>> being
>>> that
>>> consumers then wouldn't need to crank up the volume to overcome  
>>> background
>>> noise.
>>>
>>> And they suggested that manufacturers limit the volume on their  
>>> products.
>>> Dean Garstecki, a communication sciences and medical professor at
>>> Northwestern University, said, "I think companies who produce these
>>> products
>>> have an obligation to limit the output of the devices to a level  
>>> that does
>>> not cause hearing loss." He noted that hearing-aid makers do as  
>>> much in
>>> order to prevent causing additional hearing loss.
>>>
>>> Government limits
>>>
>>> If manufacturers of the portable devices do not act voluntarily,  
>>> Garstecki
>>> suggested the U.S. government could follow the French example.  
>>> France set
>>> a
>>> 100-decibel limit on iPods and other devices, but there is no  
>>> such limit
>>> in
>>> the U.S. Apple Computer Inc., iPod's manufacturer, temporarily  
>>> removed the
>>> devices from French stores to update the software to meet the legal
>>> restriction, according to a lawsuit filed against Apple by a  
>>> Louisiana man
>>> who claimed an iPod damaged his hearing.
>>>
>>> Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, said he had no comment on the  
>>> Zogby
>>> poll,
>>> conducted Feb. 20-22.
>>>
>>> The two lawmakers who appeared at Tuesday's news conference-- 
>>> Reps. Edward
>>> Markey (D-Mass.) and Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.)--did not seem intent  
>>> on a
>>> legislative fix.
>>>
>>> Seeming to wax nostalgic, Ferguson said, "Listening to music that  
>>> annoys
>>> parents at incredibly high volumes is a rite of passage for kids  
>>> of any
>>> generation."
>>>
>>> But he put much of the onus on parents. "As parents, we talk to  
>>> our kids
>>> about looking both ways before crossing the street," he said. "We  
>>> talk to
>>> our kids about not talking to strangers. We also need to talk  
>>> with them
>>> about the lifelong damage that could be caused by misusing  
>>> personal music
>>> devices."
>>>
>>> Markey said he plans to work with Ferguson to press the industry  
>>> and the
>>> National Institutes of Health for more research on the role  
>>> portable media
>>> devices play in hearing loss and solutions.
>>>
>>> The experts also warned that no one should take hearing loss  
>>> lightly, that
>>> it can have major consequences, even when it is seemingly only  
>>> minimal and
>>> particularly when it occurs in children.
>>>
>>> Anne Marie Tharpe, a hearing and speech sciences professor at  
>>> Vanderbilt
>>> University, said research indicated children with such deficits were
>>> "failing in school at a rate of 10 times their peers.
>>>
>>> "My point is that minimal hearing loss is not inconsequential for  
>>> these
>>> children," she said.
>>>
>>> ----------
>>>
>>> fjames at tribune.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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