By Bill Huiting


Children have usually loved listening to their favorite music, as well as the louder the better - much to their parents' dismay. Within the 1980s, the portable tape recorder with headphones - which came to be called the "Walkman" - enabled teenagers to listen to their music as loud as they wanted, anywhere they wanted, with out disturbing anyone around them.

But the a lot more contemporary rendition of the Walkman - portable MP3 Players and iPods - pose a key threat to our children's hearing health, and to ours.

The issue can be a mixture of the technology of portable digital devices that creates a non-buffered crystal clear sound, and also the type of headphones usually used with them, which don't have a buffer either. In December 2005, Dean Garstecki, an audiologist and professor at Northwestern University reported that more and more young people were being diagnosed with the types of hearing loss typically found in older adults. He attributed this trend to the "earbud" type headphones that usually accompany iPod and MP3 Players.

With the earbud headphones, the sound frequencies aren't buffered as they're with the a lot more standard, ear cup-style headsets. Newsweek Magazine lately reported that researchers at the House Ear Institute found that listeners can sadly improve the volume of today's portable digital devices with out the "signal distortion that occurs with conventional analog audio." The older-model headphones that had been common just 15 to 20 years ago - that have ear cups outside of the ears - had that distortion when the volume was turned up, which functioned as a much-needed buffer to protect our hearing. Today's technology does not supply that buffer - the earpiece is placed within the ear, not outside of it, and also the digital devices don't create that distortion, no matter how high the volume.

Furthermore, folks often listen to these devices whilst they're on the go, and have a tendency to crank the volume in an attempt to drown outside noise, further posing a risk to our hearing. Making use of the earbud style headphones in the course of activities such as exercise, for instance, puts the user at a higher risk. Throughout physical exercise, blood, which can act as a buffer, is diverted from the ears to other parts of the body - so our already vulnerable hearing is in even a lot more jeopardy.

Headwize reports that a study conducted on music listeners utilizing headphones revealed that although indoors with no background noise, the participants were comfortable with their music at 69 decibels. Outdoors, where the background noise was recorded at 65 decibels, participants utilizing their headphones turned the volume up to 82 decibels and as high as 95 decibels to drown out the surrounding noise. The Occupational Safety and Well being Administration guidelines limit exposure to noise at this level to no much more than four hours each day. The study concluded that the participants had been at risk for hearing harm and suggested "avoiding continuous use of [portable stereos] in noisy conditions."

Northwestern University's Dean Garstecki offers much more specific guidelines: His 60 percent/60 minute rule - listen to MP3 Players and iPods for "about an hour a day and at levels below 60 percent of maximum volume." The problem is, most of the population utilizing headphones - young music fans - listen to their music for a lot longer than 1 hour per day. But, you are able to aid minimize hearing loss, damage and difficulties while listening to your favorite music so long as you need to - the secret is inside the headphones.

Headphones like the EX29 Extreme Isolation Noise Reduction Headphones assist block out external noise allowing you to hear the fine details of your music with out blowing out your ear drums. The ear cup fits over the ear, and not in it, as well as the headphones are lightweight, don't need batteries and can be utilized with your MP3 Player or iPod. With 29 decibels of isolation from outside sound, the quiet headphones block outside noise and there isn't any must crank the volume of your music.

Aging rock stars like the Who's Pete Townsend, who has some permanent hearing loss from years of exposure to loud music, and Mick Fleetwood, who has teamed up with Energizer batteries to promote hearing loss prevention, have brought public attention to the truth that numerous of us take our hearing for granted. But there's no have to turn off your music - just be smarter about how you listen to it. If you are using your MP3 Player or iPod when you are exercising, in a noisy environment or you just want to hear the fine details of your music, ditch the earbud headphones and reach for a set of noise reduction ones instead. And you'll be enjoying your favorite music for a lengthy time to come.




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