Eh? What's that you say?

Gotta Love the IPod
Originally uploaded by goinonbro.

Pete Townsend of The Who blames headphones for his hearing loss on his blog. As sales of Ipods soar, some doctors fear a coming epidemic of hearing loss. While medical technology has extended our ability to live longer, it does not necessarily increase our ability to mitigate the ravages of time.

The loss of hearing at a young age for audiophiles seems an especially cruel irony.


Jane Spencer writes:

Hearing specialists at centers such as the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles, Children's Hospital Boston and the American Academy of Audiology say the effect they are seeing now may be only the beginning, because accumulated noise damage can take years before it causes noticeable problems. "We're only seeing a few teenagers with hearing loss at this point," says Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital Boston. But, he adds that many others may have subtle hearing loss that they have yet to recognize, "and by the time they do, they'll have done substantial damage."....

"We have really good information on how much noise exposure you can have over time," says Jennifer Derebery, an otolaryngologist at the House Ear Clinic. "But we have absolutely no idea if those levels are valid for a direct feed of sound into the ear."

The concerns are emerging as sales of MP3 players explode. Roughly 38 million MP3 players were shipped to U.S. retailers in 2005, according to forecasts by the research firm IDC, and an estimated 28% of the U.S. population owns a player. Apple controls about 70% of the MP3 player market, according to the research firm NPD Group. At peak levels iPods can hit volumes close to 115 decibels, research has found -- a level that falls somewhere between a chainsaw and jackhammer -- but all MP3 players pose an equal theoretical risk.|Wall Street Journal| (sub'n req'd)(emphasis added)