Travel Technology - earbud type headphones may cause hearing loss - Harvard Medical School

From the NY Times website today, partial extract:

""Need a reason to tear yourself from that sleek new MP3 player you can't put down? While most people covet the hours of nonstop music and the snug earpieces, those features, and others, are also the reasons the players may hurt your hearing.

The component that can have the greatest impact is the headphone. In a study published last year in the "Journal Ear and Hearing", Dr. Brian Fligor of Harvard Medical School looked at a variety of headphones and found that, on average, the smaller they were the higher their output levels at any given volume control setting.

Compared with larger headphones that cover the entire ear, some insertable headphones, like the white ones sold with iPods, increased sound levels by up to nine decibels. That may not seem like much, but because decibels are measured in logarithmic units, it can mean the difference between the noise output of an alarm clock (about 80 decibels) and that of a lawnmower (about 90 decibels).

The other problem, a second study found, is that insertable headphones are not as efficient at blocking background noise as some larger ones that cover the ear, so there is more incentive to turn up the volume.

To be sure, no one is certain what levels of noise the average MP3 listener is experiencing. But a large study of iPod users between 18 and 54 in Australia last month might provide some insight. The study, by the National Acoustic Laboratory in Sydney, found that about a quarter of the people surveyed kept their iPods at volumes that could cause long-term hearing damage.""

The other problem, a second study found, is that insertable headphones are not as efficient at blocking background noise as some larger ones that cover the ear, so there is more incentive to turn up the volume.Often I have worried/wondered about this when I use my iPod on a plane. At home in a quiet setting I notice that my volume might be at half or even under, but on a plane it's close to full. I would use my QC2s but when I'm awake I wear my glasses and I find the Bose headset uncomfortable with my specs on.

I wish I knew if hearing damage was in my future.

Um, I'm not sure why this is specifically an AA problem. In my experience, you can't turn up the IFE system very loud anyway, even at it's maximum.UA, CO, DL, and NW don't use buds.

But some of the those others do go very loud. Sometimes when you change channels. :eek:

Oh, its a valid topic, but for the Travel technology forum as there are extensive threads on noise cancelling headphones of which the Shure and Etymotic varieties are of these type and I am sure many people on that forum/thread would be interested/benefit from this information.

Well I am working the 737 this month (must change my userid I guess) now that they are on the DFW bid sheet and people are just LOVING the ear buds. When I hand them out in first class they don't know what to think. At first, I don't think they get it, because they are so small and the packaging throws them off, but last trip alone, several passengers commented on how much they liked them and appreciated the upgrade to the ear bud.

Now if we could just do something about "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants"....

Well I am working the 737 this month (must change my userid I guess) now that they are on the DFW bid sheet and people are just LOVING the ear buds. When I hand them out in first class they don't know what to think. At first, I don't think they get it, because they are so small and the packaging throws them off, but last trip alone, several passengers commented on how much they liked them and appreciated the upgrade to the ear bud.



People may like them, but that doesn't reduce the possible negative side effects of using these types of earphones. Hell, lots of people like cigarettes, but that doesn't make them any less harmful.

Cheers.

...
I wish I knew if hearing damage was in my future.

Don't worry - it's not

From the NY Times website today, partial extract:

The component that can have the greatest impact is the headphone. In a study published last year in the "Journal Ear and Hearing", Dr. Brian Fligor of Harvard Medical School looked at a variety of headphones and found that, on average, the smaller they were the higher their output levels at any given volume control setting.
This is a load of horse dung.

I use Shure e3's and before them, the e2's. I have also tried the over-the-ears noise-cancellation headphones, including the Bose, which I actually did a side-by-side comparison with my Shures when they gave them out for free on a flight I was on.

First of all, earbuds are different from in-ear phones like the Shures or the Etys. I hate the earbuds because they do not fit particularly well, hence they don't block out noise at all and in a noisy environment, it's nearly impossible to hear the music without bumping up the volume.

What I find totally misleading in the above quote though, is the phrase "at any given volume control setting". This is like saying "a 60W bulb gives off significantly more light in the any given lamp than a 40W bulb, in the on position". All they're saying is that earbuds or in-ear phones are more efficient than over-the-ear headphones. So what should anyone with any common sense do? Turn down the volume control. They make it sound as though people are running around, listening to their iPods with the volume setting at 50%, then switching to earbuds and totally ignoring what they're hearing, leaving it at 50% because that's what they think it should be at.

This is one of the reasons why I love my Shures. I no longer have to up the volume in noisy environments like an airplane, in a vain attempt to hear the music. I can leave my iPod at a reasonable level and hear perfectly fine, and most of the ambient noise is shut out completely.

What a load of dung. Who paid for this illuminating study anyway???

AA moderator note

moved from AA forum due to lack of relevance to AAdvantage program.

it really comes down to your own personal preference of volume. If you ALWAYS use a vol from 80-100% you are going to loose your hearing much more fast than someone who used a 30-60% setting. For me, I know my hearing will be gone sometime as I do ALOT of work with concerts and loud enviroments, but for now, enjoy! to each his own. Its like those that smoke, you know its bad for you, but you still do it.

More junk science and utter BS. Different headphones react differently to a given input. The iPod 'phones may be very efficient and not seal well, but I can guarantee you a power hungry headphone such as the Etymotic ER-4S will NOT be as loud as most 'phones. They just aren't as efficient. As for in-ear phones not blocking noise as well... *ROFLMAO*.. again, it's all about the design. The Etymotics, my Shures, and the Sonys I have all have soft pliable earpieces (custom molded on the Etys) that mold to the ear and seal against the ear. They block noise better than any external phone ever could. Finally, as for the 9 dB increase in sound... you hear what you hear. If an earphone is 9 dB hotter than another, you're simply not going to turn the volume up as loud as you did before.

Don't worry - it's notAww, thanks. ;)

Eh? What's that you say?

:D :D

Someone correct me here but I think there is a distinct difference between ear buds and canal phones like Ety or shure. The buds you just place in the ear and they provide no type of sealing or sound isolation; the canals provide a seal or sound isolation. The buds you do have to crank up to get any significant sound whereas the canals you don't because outer sound is blocked out.

I'll need to read the entire report but, from the extract/abstract posted here, it sounds like a piece of junk.

What the heck does "at any given volume setting" mean?? My car accelerates faster at half throttle than my lawnmower does? OK, and that proves what? Turning my outside spotlight to "On", it is brighter than my 15W desk lap set to "On". So? The fact that setting my MP3 player volume to 6 is louder on my Shures than it is with Sennheiser HD-600's simply means I turn it down with the Shures or up with the Sennys

Insertable headphones "increased sound levels by up to 9 decibels". How many people have an MP3 player with a fixed output? That's the only scenario where I see this sentence having any relevance. Yes, putting a fixed amount of sound closer to your ear will increase the SPL. That's why they have volume controls.

"To be sure, no one is certain what levels of noise the average MP3 listener is experiencing. " - why not? Is it that hard to survey a person's volume setting and reproduce it in a dummy head? Actually, I know it isn't. My wife used to be global product manager for hearing protection with the world's largest safety company - they do it all the time.

In fact, it seems the folks down under seem able to do it, as stated at the end of the article in the initial post. I wonder if they broke down the survey by in-ear and circumaural listening devices. I'd put a decent wager on the percentages being pretty much independant of the type of headphone. People who listen too loud will do it with any device. And they're pretty much all capable of damaging SPL levels.

I can't imagine a study published by Harvard Medical is this bad (I do believe the NYT could make it this bad. And why are they just know reporting a study from 2004?) I'm going to try to dig up a copy to see what it really says.

And I'll keep listening to my Shures and Sennys at the volumes I do today.

Here's a much better description of the real problem - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166944,00.html

It deals with the science of hearing and the reality of listening to loud sounds, with no mention of headphone type.

The source is WebMD, review by an MD. Interestingly, the main source is a more recent article from the same researcher quoted by the NYT article.

Here's a much better description of the real problem - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166944,00.html

It deals with the science of hearing and the reality of listening to loud sounds, with no mention of headphone type.

The source is WebMD, review by an MD. Interestingly, the main source is a more recent article from the same researcher quoted by the NYT article.

It's a much better explanation but still a tempest in a teapot. Kids have been blowing their hearing away for YEARS now. I still remember my 16 year old cousin back when I was 8 laying down on the floor with a pair of GIGANTIC Pioneer speakers flanking him like the world's biggest pair of headphones... and listening to AC/DC's Hell's Bells cranked up to 'leven. Lest these folks forget, 8 tracks played forever too (or until they broke) and we took ADVANTAGE of that endless play. Kinda like children of the '60s who wore out Beatles records playing them incessantly... back then listening to the same album for hours on end was nooo problem, especially Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon.

So... the message is the same as it's been for 30 years. Moderate the volume or go deaf. Meh, I still love it loud, but these days it's Rimsky-Korsakov and Mahler vs. The Scorpions, Queen and Def Leppard. Speaking of classical, have these geniuses ever been to a live concert??? Ok so it's not constant but at full chat an orchestra can hit 140dB without a problem!

As an audio professional whose livelihood depends on my ability to hear (yes, clients pay me because of my hearing ability! :p), I think research in this area is still rather young, there will be plenty more studies done that will further our understanding of hearing loss and it's causes.

A few facts:

Earbuds, inear headphones, noise cancelling headsets, even regular headphones all have the potential to inflict hearing damage if one is not careful. Size doesn't matter, other factors are more important: efficiency, amount of power applied to the headphone drivers, the degree of isolation from surroundings, distortion, and the length of time of exposure to name a few. What few studies have already proven is that prolonged exposure (8 hours or less) to levels greater than 85 dB SPL can be damaging to ones ears. Whether this is in a room, or limited to one's ear canal, it's still just as damaging. Some of my clients (concert audio providers) take this very seriously, and when providing on stage talent with in-ear monitors, make sure that protection devices are inserted into the signal path to prevent the possibility of damaging levels reaching an artist's ears.

Hearing damage can occur immediately if the sound is loud enough, however the greater concern here is the long term consequences that come down the road as a result of not protecting one's hearing even early in youth. Sometimes the damage does not become apparent until many years later! I carry a set of earplugs in my briefcase, and use them regularly!

Consider that hearing damage is not limited to just hearing loss! Anyone who suffers from tinnitus will tell you that that an incessant "ringing" or "buzzing" in one's ears is not a pleasant experience! Try going to sleep with a continual ringing in your ears, it doesn't stop, there is no known cure, only therapy to cope. Add to that people who have developed a hypersensitivity to loud noise as a result of being exposed to excessive levels.

Having been a teenager at one point in my live, I can attest to attending concerts that left my ears ringing for days, and cranking up my stereo (and headphones when the parents were home) to obnoxious levels that make me ponder the possibility that my earlier "foolish" days will at one point come around and haunt me later in life. I would venture to say many teenagers these days listen to cheap earbuds hooked up to MP3 players at levels greater than 85 dB for long periods of time, hence cause for concern. I get my hearing tested regularly, avoid loud concerts when I can (kinda hard to do when it's a client), and take extra care to have my earplugs handy on those turboprop flights.

If you really value your hearing, spending the extra $100-200 to get a quality in ear headphone that actually seals the ear from outside noise, thus allowing one to keep sound pressure levels reaching the eardrum to a minimum in noisy environments would be a very wise investment. Taking extra care to keep levels reasonable in your ear is just common sense. If you want to find out how loud 85 dB really is, get yourself to a local Radio Shack, and try out one of their handheld sound level meters on a stereo system in the store. Not exactly a precise method, however it will get you in the ballpark of what you should consider acceptable, ear-friendly sound levels.

The House Ear Institute (http://www.hei.org/) is one of the few organizations out there that is doing credible research in this area, their website contains a wealth of excellent, factual information on hearing health.

Well, I keep my iPod volume below 40% most of the time and increase it to 50-60% on a plane. Hopefully, I will still be able to hear when I am 60.

I use the Eytemotic (sp?) noise canceling buds, and hve two comments:
1) I agree with other posters that say I definitely think I have my volume a lot lower as a result of using those compared to the cheapo things the airline hand out. The over-the-ear types may be a bit better, but these are in the same ballpark.

2) I *have* had some concerns about them, though. More than once, I've had the Eytemotic's ripped out of my ears accidentally, e.g. somebody walking by my asile seat and catching them on their clothes, etc. When they get ripped out, the seal against the ear canal is so good that it actually takes some force to get them out, and when it happenes, it pulls my eardrum violently in a "negative" direction. I've been quite concerned about ear damage from this event.

Anybody ever heard of somebody's eardrums being hurt from a fast-extraction of in-ear noise-cancelling buds?

This is a load of horse dung.

I use Shure e3's and before them, the e2's. I have also tried the over-the-ears noise-cancellation headphones, including the Bose, which I actually did a side-by-side comparison with my Shures when they gave them out for free on a flight I was on.


wondering what airline/flight/when you were given Shures to try. I would like to get a set of good 'canal phones', but question the sound/value. I think trying them on a flight would be great

wondering what airline/flight/when you were given Shures to try. I would like to get a set of good 'canal phones', but question the sound/value. I think trying them on a flight would be great
Sorry, but the Shures were mine; they gave out the Boses on AA in Business. After about a half hour, when my ears felt like they were burning up, I switched back to my Shures and I've been quite happy with them ever since.

The best part is, when I see those Bose owners packing their headsets into their tidy but not-so-little bags, I just wind my Shures into their tiny case and slip it into my shirt pocket. Can't beat that for portability.

Here is an article from today's WSJ...

You've heard of BlackBerry thumb. Now there's iPod ear.

As use of portable MP3 music players soars, concerns are emerging that the gadgets may contribute to hearing damage. Some doctors say they are seeing younger and younger patients with signs of noise-induced hearing loss that wouldn't typically emerge before middle age. And they are worried that the constant use of MP3 players, which blare music directly into the ears, may be partly to blame.


http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113685799723842312-dZrxb_eZm44vfy74topaLm4evP8_20070110.html?mod=tff_ main_tff_top