I remember being in elementary school and avidly poring over every edition of The Guinness Book of World Records with my friends. Nothing much changed from year to year—there was always that creepy guy with the long fingernails, the fat guys on the little motorbikes, that really tall guy… for some reason, I always ended up, sooner or later, running across the entry for “Loudest Rock Band,” and it was always The Who. (I bought a bunch of Who albums in high school, probably sparked by my need to hear the loudest rock band myself. ;-))
It’s kind of ironic, then (or fitting?), that Pete Townshend, The Who’s famous guitarist/vocalist/songwriter should also have, over the years, become a famous victim of severe hearing loss. You’d think it would stem from their 130-decibel concerts, but Townshend attributes it to listening to playback in the recording studio at high volume through headphones—which is why his comments are featured in an Associated Press article today about the dangers of blasting your ears off with your portable MP3 player.
These kinds of stories have been kicking around the Internet lately, especially since a statement released by an audiologist at Northwestern University in December warning that earbud-type headphones can cause more damage quicker than the older over-the-ear styles:
Unfortunately, the earbuds preferred by music listeners are even more likely to cause hearing loss than the muff-type earphones that were associated with the older devices,” Garstecki said.
Not only are earbuds placed directly into the ear, they can boost the sound signal by as much as six to nine decibels. “That’s the difference in intensity between the sound made by a vacuum cleaner and the sound of a motorcycle engine,” said Garstecki…
The solution, according to Garstecki, is the 60 percent/60 minute rule. He and other hearing specialists recommend using the MP3 devices, including iPods, for no more than about an hour a day and at levels below 60 percent of maximum volume.
”If music listeners are willing to turn the volume down further still and use different headphones, they can increase the amount of time that they can safely listen,” Garstecki added.
You people running around with your shiny new Christmas iPods et al., be careful, eh? Keep your volume at reasonable levels and hang on to your hearing as long as possible…or at least until someone announces combo hearing-aid/MP3 players. 😛