Skip to Content

Don't miss Joystiq's up-to-the-minute live coverage of E3!
AOL Tech

Posts with tag hearing

Earphones That You Can Use All Day Without Damaging Your Ears





As with everything in life, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that we've found some headphones that will keep you, your hearing and your social life safe when using them. We stumbled across The Air Drives Interactive Earphones in the sea of gadgetry and tricky tech publicists at this year's CES in Las Vegas. To be honest, at first we were just humoring the friendly Air Drives fella peddling his product, but when we slipped them on and pressed play we were instantly sold.

The unique earphones went on Bluetooth style, with the speakers basically hovering outside the ears. When the jolly man played the music, the strangest thing happened: We felt like the music was being piped in from a PA system rather than being blasted inside our head, as with most earphones. Then, the Air Drives rep started talking, and we could hear both him and the music easily and clearly! It turns out that wearing these earphones doesn't mean you have to miss the phone ringing or risk getting flattened by cars you couldn't hear while out jogging to some music. Even more importantly, never again will you have to do that extra loud and obnoxious "Huh?!" thing when people talk to you.

Also, taking advantage of the Air Drive innovation's InAir Technology (We'd explain, but it's not bedtime yet.) allows you to listen to music any way you wish without offering your ears as sacrifice to the gods. In fact, the headphones are so safe, they exceed the House Ear Institute and Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) standards for all day listening and have earned a hearty endorsement from the International Association for the Hearing Challenged (IAHC).

Now for the bad news... The days of living in your own music world while the soundtrack to your life haughtily mutes the people around you just may be over. Sorry, but no more convenient excuses about not being able to hear the annoying request by your spouse, mother or father. But hey, it just might be worth it. You decide, but make sure you check out the gallery below for shots of the Air Drives in action first.



Related Links:

Future iPods Will Shut Down if You've Been Listening Too Long

Apple Patents Automatic Volume Leveler for iPod

We've reported before on the possible negative effects of gadgets on hearing, and everyone should know at this point that listening to your iPod for too long with the volume cranked more or less guarantees you'll be rocking some sort of hearing aid in your later years. Now it seems Apple's taking steps to prevent that, securing a patent that will automatically decrease the volume on devices (presumably future iPods) after a period of time.

The patent describes a technique for monitoring the volume levels that you use to listen to your music. Listen for too long at a volume the software thinks is too loud and your iPod could automatically force you to have some "quiet time" to let your ears recover. This sounds a little irritating, like the digital equivalent of a speed limiter on a sports car. But, don't fret just yet. It's unknown whether this would be an optional thing or whether it would be mandated on all of Apple's music playing devices. It's also possible this is just intended as an alternative to the restrictions Apple currently places on European iPods, limiting the volume there due to European consumer-protection laws. If that's the case this would actually be an improvement.

It'll probably be at least a year before we start seeing this "feature" on any iPods, so we'll all have to wait and see.

From Digg and Valleywag

Related Links:

Cell Phone Use Causes Hearing Loss, Study Finds

Cell Phones and Hearing Loss
A disconcerting report, released this morning from researchers at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India, revealed that people who talk on a cell phone for more than an hour a day were found to have suffered losses of high-frequency hearing. While that may not sound so bad, such hearing loss actually results in an inability to hear consonants like F and T, giving a whole new spin to the phrase "Can you hear me now?"

The team of researchers caution that "[their] intention is not to scare the public" and "there is as yet no cause for alarm." They also don't give any explanation of why a cell phone is any more dangerous for hearing than a traditional headset. But, if you're a heavy cell phone user and value your (or your children's) hearing, you might want to think about laying off the babbling a bit.

From textually.org

Related Links:

American Eardrums Under Attack

With Sanjaya Malakar no longer the force he once was, it seems the tender eardrums of America's youth are once again safe from unnecessary harm. But sadly, that's not the case, reports NPR.

Today's 'Morning Edition' broadcast spotlighted Dr. Sharon Kujawa of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and her crusade across Boston's school system to inform young people about the dangers of listening to music too loud.

A study by the CDC estimates that 12.5 percent of American kids between six and 19 years-old show signs of noise-induced hearing loss. That's more than five million nationwide. However, what's particularly alarming is the fact that the study is from 2001 -- years before iPods and other digital media players were as commonplace as they are in 2007.

But, kids are a tough audience to win over. So, to help her get the message across, Kujawa travels with Ben Jackson, a twenty-something kid who gets up and actually raps a song about hearing loss. His song is called "Turn it to the left," and encourages youngsters to turn their volume dials down (and to the left). According to NPR, the kiddies go nuts for it.

Jackson's diddy goes a little something like this:

"The number one risk around,

Is when the volume goes up when it should go down,

So be aware of the sounds that you're listenin' to,

And when it gets too loud, you know what to do:

Turn it to the left, turn, turn it to the left..."

Admit it. You're dying to listen for yourself (halfway down the page).

From NPR


    AOL Tech Network



    Latest Reviews from CNET.com

    CNET provides the latest tech news, unbiased reviews, videos, podcasts, software, and downloads, making tech products easy to find, understand and use.

    Top Product Reviews

    AOL News

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: