Minneapolis Woman Can't Hear Voice of Inner Hypochondriac Due to Earbud-Induced Hearing Loss
When I first saw the reports about ipod earbuds causing hearing loss, I blew it off as hysteria. Like when I was younger I was told I'd lose sensation in my thumbs from playing too much Tetris, and maybe I did for awhile, I don't remember, but they're working fine now. But then a couple of weeks ago I spent something like 24 straight hours working on my appellate brief, and then I had to take a break to go to class so I took my earbuds out. Only then did I realize that I had been wearing the earbuds for the entire past 24 hours. And when I took them out, my ears felt like the buds were still in. ...and the next day, it still felt like I was wearing the buds when I wasn't. And ever since, I've been paranoid about hearing loss. (But not paranoid enough to give up the ipod. Don't let's be silly.)
I googled "ipod hearing loss" and began to peruse some of the 1.5 million articles that came up. I'm freakin' a little bit. It sounds like the main issues are volume and the length of time the buds are in. I don't think the volume thing is a problem for me, but the time is. I keep them on almost all the time when I'm studying.
What do you all think? Reason to worry? Are they OK if I never listen loud?
posted by Ugly Juice @ 9:27 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Nothing to worry about. The first threshhold is: How loud? If the volume isn't an issue at all, then neither is the duration. The whole iPod hearing loss thing is about people who are too dumb to realize that listening to their iPods at FULL volume for extended periods is a bad idea. I am guessing that you listen to yours at half volume, if that.
Boy, I don't know UJ. Any noise, loud or not, experienced over long periods of time can cause deafness. A prime example is your father in law. He's been married to me for a long time!
Hey UJ, sorry, I couldn't really make out your post. I've been staring at my computer screen for the past couple of hours and my eyes are totally shot.
By the way, cool blog--very creative.
-Jim from Ohio (recipient of drunk dials).
I think that ears weren't designed to hear constant noise in such close proximity to the nerves. Duration of ipod use, no matter what the volume, does matter. Buy what do I know -- I don't get my MD for 3 more weeks! ;-) Anyway, you can always get a hearing aid later. Then you can be one of those old people who turns off their hearing aid all the time and then everyone must yell in order to converse with them. I yell at future yous all the time -- no big deal.
should be "but what do i know" instead of "buy" -- I should type more carefully on the grammar queen's blog . . .
Hey UG, I think you can now set a maximum volume limit on your ipod. I guess that only works if you have a newer iPod or nano, though.
earbuds let intoo much outside nosie, so you have to turn them up louder than regular headphones. Get some nice (big) noise-cancelling cup-type headphones...much safer. And usually morr comfy.
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