EU scientists raise new concerns

Jan 30, 2009 09:15 GMT  ·  By

Digital music players are one of the most purchased and widespread categories of personal products in the world today, owned by tens of millions of people. In the European Union alone, more than 10 million young people have them, and use them regularly, listening on average more than 2 hours per day on their headphones, while commuting or simply walking down the streets. But EU scientists say that the vast majority of these mp3 player users listen to their favorite music at too high volumes, which can severely and irreversibly affect their hearing, with potentially devastating consequences.

On Tuesday, Union health officials drew attention to this fact, proposing the introduction of a warning label on these products, to specify the number of decibels each of these devices produces. They say that this is one of the ways authorities could employ in order to avert people going deaf from prolonged exposure to loud noises. The simplest test any mp3 player owner could perform in order to assess the loudness of their gadgets is to let the music play and adjust the volume in such a manner that they hear what's going on in the world outside.

But therein lies the problem, namely the fact that people listening to music all the time do so in order to isolate themselves from other noises or distractions. Some teens say that they are sick and tired of hearing the noises of the cities, or those of people around them, and that's why they let the music play so loud. It's highly unlikely that a significant part of this group will heed the warnings on their devices. More likely, they will just ignore them and continue to listen at the volumes they are used to.

According to the official estimate, 5 to 10 percent of people listening to loud music on their headphones are at risk of going deaf, or at least getting a constant tinnitus, the ringing sensation in the ears associated with high volumes. The health committee also notes that there are no cures for the two conditions, because both are degenerative and occur due to persistent causes. The only way to avert these dangers is to listen to music at a softer level, or to purchase over-the-ears headphones.

In-ear devices are most dangerous, because they send the noise directly into the ear drum, subjecting it to a lot of stress. Other types at least dissipate the sound for a little bit, and subject the ear to less strain. It's still unclear what measure the European Union will employ on the matter, but civil rights activists say that under no circumstances should the officials limit the mp3 players' capacity to produce loud noise, because that's what most people are looking for in a digital audio player in the first place.