What was that?
01.19.07 - 04:58pm
Professor Fan-Gang Zeng, from the University of California, noticed a phenomenon happening among his students. The phenomenon wasn’t students getting superb grades or suddenly being able to jump buildings. The phenomenon was hearing loss. Hearing loss that normally wouldn’t be seen until his students were 50 or 60.
Professor Zeng works in boi-medical engineering and is a researcher specializing in hearing loss. He has seen cases of hearing loss in all of his classes for the past two years. The only thing that he’s seen change in the lifestyle of his students, for that two years, is the use of iPods or MP3 players.
“We can’t say for sure it’s from MP3 players, but I don’t know what else has changed,” said Zeng, “The climate and the food are the same.”
“Earbuds” such as the little white ones that have become synonymously famous with the iPod can be played much louder than earphones with previous technologies due to digital sound. Digital sound lets you turn it up, way up, without distortion. Also earbuds are directly in the ear canal allowing no sound to escape.
Other reasons for the hearing loss attributed to MP3 players is that music is often listened to at loud volumes for hours and hours due to the 1000’s of songs able to be stored. This produces a constant barrage of sound. Dr. Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children’s Hospital Boston, who teaches at Harvard Medical School says it’s similar to too many sunburns - over time, sometimes just a short time cancer occurs. He says. “The kind of hearing loss we’re talking about is not going to show up when they’re teenagers. It will show up when they are in their 20s and 30s.”
Apple has been in the limelight for hearing loss often as their iPods play at 115 to 125 decibels. Hearing loss starts to occur at 85 decibels. One of Apples initial iPod slogans was “Play it Loud” and kids did. In February Apple was sued for not doing enough to protect customers hearing and since then Apple has produced free software upgrades that allow owners to set volume limits. Parents can also set volume limits for their children that the children can’t change.
Speak Your Peace