MP3 Players and CD Players Can Threaten Your Hearing
Seniors Choice Newsmagazine, February 2007
It's cool and trendy, but your new MP3 or CD player can also blow your hearing and cause you to suffer from tinnitus and noise induced hearing loss.
A jet plane in your ear
Boston University researchers turned on the music and tested six different commercially available portable CD players. The results were shocking. The researchers found that that the players delivered sound levels between 91 and 121 dB out-of-the-box. When other earphones than those provided with the players were used, the sound levels reached as high as 139 dB - about the noise level of a jet airplane on take-off.
Think again
You probably use your personal stereo when you are on the go. But the traffic is noisy and to drown it out you turn up the volume. If the traffic noise levels are about 85 dB it is easy for you to turn up the volume on your stereo so much that it damages your hearing. As a general rule, you should never expose your ears to noise levels of 91 dB for more than two hours in one day.
This is why you need to think twice before you turn on your MP3 or CD player. Remember that:
? You should limit your listening to music to one hour or less a day when you turn up the volume to 60 percent of the maximum volume on your personal stereo.
? If you are going to listen for more than an hour then keep the volume at a reasonable level and be sure to give your ears a five-minute break following every hour of listening.
? The smaller the headphone, the higher the sound level for a given volume control setting.
? Some players come with a limiter setting preventing sound levels above 100 dB. Do not switch off the limiter.
MP3, IPODs, and CD players can be very enjoyable for many people. The last thing I want is for people to avoid listening to music. What I would like though, is for people to be smart about how loud and how long they listen to their music for.
If you have any hearing-related questions please send them to me at
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or submit them directly to me at either of my offices. Colin VanBergen is a clinical audiologist, and manages both the Kelowna and Westbank offices of the Okanagan Hearing Clinic.
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