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MP3 player risks: truth or fiction?
Look around these days, and you'll see earphone cords dangling
around many necks. The advent of newer, more affordable digital
music players (DMPs) has lots of us toting mini personalized
jukeboxes in our pockets; a steady soundtrack accompanying our
commutes, workouts, and idle moments in waiting rooms.
These devices have become so ubiquitous, so of course people
wonder if there are risks in all this noise. Examining three
common speculations, we find some truth and some fiction.
Can MP3 players cause hearing loss?
The risk to your ears from DMPs is not that different from the
risk from older or outmoded personal music players. People have
slid on headphones or plugged in ear buds for years, whether to
listen to records or radios, cassettes or CDs, and hearing loss
has actually declined in recent decades.
One troubling thing about the newer, tinier, personal music
players is the frequency with which we use them. Since MP3 players
can hold hundreds and hundreds of songs, and most slip right into
your pocket, some people are hooked up to their tunes almost
constantly.
Exposing our ears to a steady stream of high-decibel noise can
lead to noise-induced hearing loss. This type of hearing deficit
can happen if you're listening to music ringing in at about 85
decibels, but some varieties of MP3 players have the volume
capacity to reach over 100 decibels. And those buds that nestle
snugly into your ear can boost the decibels even higher.
Experts recommend keeping your volume at a safe, reasonable level
(if someone has to shout for you to hear them, it's too loud!).
Some suggest a 60/60 rule: listen to your device at 60% of its
volume capacity for no more than 60 minutes a day.
Can MP3 players interfere with pacemakers?
It all started with a curious teen with aspirations to become a
doctor someday. Wondering over the effect of DMPs on pacemakers,
he set about conducting an experiment. He discovered signs of
electrical interference when he held a DMP close to the chest of
men outfitted with pacemakers. His findings were published in the
medical journal, Heart Rhythm, and the story made a lot of noise
among consumers. Could music make hearts skip a beat?
Researchers from Harvard Medical School did further, similar
research. Though some interference occurred as pacemakers were
being programmed, researchers noted that the pacemakers continued
working just fine. So, leave your ear buds and MP3 player behind
when you're having your pacemaker checked or programmed.
Otherwise, the risk is very low.
Are iPods lightning rods?
One day a man jogged along while tunes from his iPod motivated him
onward, even as a thunderstorm rumbled around him. A bolt of
lightning to a nearby tree interrupted his workout, sending the
man flying 8 feet from the tree. Running in a thunderstorm seems
to have been the first of this man's bad decisions for the day.
Besides receiving second degree burns to his chest and leg, the
man also suffered burns that matched the outline of his iPod
earphones and cord, a fractured jaw, and some hearing loss due to
two blown eardrums.
The man's wounds have healed, but the public's worry lingered:
could headphones and mp3 players, cell phones, or other small
metallic or electronic devises increase the risk and severity of
lightning strikes? While the earphone-cord-shaped burns would seem
to suggest some correlation, the iPod may have only helped along a
natural occurrence. Burst eardrums are common side effects of a
lightning strike, and there actually is no scientific evidence to
show that wearing or holding metal devices will turn a person into
a lightning rod.
In this unlucky man's case, the lightning hit the tree and
side-flashed over to him, and the earphone cord and sweat
conducted the current up toward his head. That would account for
the muscle contractions that fractured his jaw. The lesson here?
Take shelter indoors when a thunderstorm starts, no matter how
inspiring your playlist is!
Amy Toffelmire
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