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Serious Business: MP3 Players and Hearing Damage |
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Dr. Samuel Says -
Rants
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Friday, 17 October 2008 |
A report out of Europe this week warns that millions of children and teenagers could suffer permanent hearing loss from setting the headphone volume on their digital music players too loud. This is a familiar warning, of course, but now there are some hard numbers coming in, and they're pretty scary.
 The commission report estimates that between 50 and 100 million people
listen to portable music players on a daily basis. Only five hours a
week at more than 89 decibels already exceeds EU limits for noise
allowed in the workplace. Over longer periods, users risk permanent
hearing loss after five years. Researchers calculate the number of
people in that risk category at between five and 10 percent of
listeners, meaning up to 10 million people in the European Union.
You might be wondering about that "89 decibels" business. Just how loud
is that? Well, technically speaking, the math here gets a little
complex. In ordinary usage, specification of the intensity of a sound
implies a comparison of the intensity of the sound with that of a sound
just perceptible to the human ear. For example, a 90 decibel sound is
nine powers of 10 (or 1,000,000,000) times more intense than a barely
detectable sound. Normal conversation takes place at around 60 decibels
(80-plus if you're dealing with the guy behind the counter at my local
deli). A jet engine generates about 130 decibels at 100 feet. Sounds
louder than 120 decibels are painful to the human ear.
Now, frankly, this is the kind of hard-hitting scientific background
you're just not going to get from the other blogs. I trust you are
appreciative. The term "bel," by the way, is derived from the name of
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone.
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