Study on safe volume levels for iPod users

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phide

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I came across this article earlier this morning regarding a study done on safe listening levels of various players (including what I assume is the third generation iPod). I've known a handful of people that listen to iPods are practically maximum volume in loud environments (airplanes), and it seems that, as I would think, exposing yourself to more than a few minutes of this volume level per day will cause to hearing loss. Interestingly, they indicate that listening between 0 and 50% volume won't lead to any measurable hearing loss no matter how many hours per day you're using it. It also seems that other comparable players put out around the same SPL with the stock earbuds as the iPod at the same volume level.

It also talks a bit about a second study that has shown that earbuds are no more damaging to hearing than on-ear or circumaural cans. From a pure SPL perspective, the earbud "hysteria" perpetuated by who-the-hell-knows-who never made much sense to me, and this study seems to affirm that. These studies are a bit old, but I'm sure a lot of you aren't aware of them.

In any case, I just wanted you guys to be aware of this. If you consistently listen to anything at high volume levels for extended periods of time, and/or if you feel you're experiencing hearing loss, consult an audiologist (and come up with a decent reason for your employer to pay for it if you can -- I do).
 
I don't understand how people can listen to their ipod at anything higher than 50% volume. It gets way too loud with most of the average headphones :eek:
 
I have the volume set on my iPod based on listening in a quiet room: between -46dB and -57dB in rockbox with Koss KSC75s (replaygain set at 89dB). If the surrounding environment is too loud to hear it I just turn the iPod off.

It makes me wonder when people complain about sound leakage with their headphones. I can only assume they have the volume far too high.
 
My Vision:M never gets above the secondbar when I'm wearing my Er6i's. I have noticed that my ears will ring if I pump the volume to loud with those, I think it's because they fire directly at your ear drum in a sealed space. From the standpoint of noise isolation I don't have to turn the volume up to overcome outside noise which I'm sure makes them safer.

BTW, do you have a link for that article?
 
Dont forget that alot (okay maybe only some) people who listen to their ipod maxxed or close to it are doing so with high impedance 'phones, such as Sennheiser HD650. That headphone is 240 mw of resistance. The resistance of the garden variety earbud is closer to 32, sometimes less. That is a whole world of difference. Maxxed HD650 is probably like 32 ohm 'buds at 60 percent volume (my unscientific guesstimate).
 
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