Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

New Study Details Potential Hearing Loss from MP3 Players (Surprised?)

by Tim Stevens on October 14, 2008 at 01:02 PM


Hey, did you know listening to your portable music player too loudly for hours each day can damage your hearing? Yeah, shocking, right? We've reported on this before, but somehow, amazingly, not everyone is getting the message, as a new report is detailing the sort of damage that not turning down the volume can mean for your ears -- permanently.

The findings are published by the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks in Europe, and state that those who listen for five hours per week with the volume high expose themselves to noise levels that exceed regulations for sound volume at factories and job-sites. After five years, this sort of behavior will result in permanent hearing loss, and the report estimates that up to 10 million people within the European Union (EU) are currently engaging in this sort of hearing aid-inducing behavior.

Europe already has strict laws about volume in media players, which has led to some innovations on the subject from Apple, but with 20 million ears at stake and seemingly nobody hearing the message, we wouldn't be surprised if those laws get a little tougher. [From: The New York Times]

Tags: health, hearing loss, HearingLoss, iphone, pmp, portable media player, PortableMediaPlayer, studies

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular