Switched On: Listen Up, 'Buds

Every Wednesday Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, an opinion column about consumer technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

"If it's too loud, you're too old," has been a traditional rallying cry of the rock 'n' roll generation. Ironically, though, a more accurate slogan would be, "If you're too old, it may not be loud enough." Hearing loss has long been associated with advancing age and, sadly, people may be accelerating the process by playing music at volumes loud enough to damage their ears.

This longstanding problem has received fresh scrutiny in the age of digital audio players that, unlike their cassette and CD-based forebears, can operate uninterrupted for hours at a time at very loud volumes. Moreover, these products are often used with "in-ear"-style earbuds, which have been popularized with the iPod the way that lightweight foam headphones were popularized with the original Walkman.

Some of these earphones require that the audio player be turned to its nearly maximum volume in order to listen at moderate volumes. Others, especially those capable of sound isolation (which blocks out background noise), better reflect the volume range of these devices. Adjusting the volume to moderate levels produces moderate volume.

With this in mind, I challenged a high-end manufacturer of sound-isolating earphones with the following — if earphones that let in more background noise have to be played at near-maximum volume in order to be heard well, aren't they "safer"? After all, even if the volume is turned to its maximum level, the music shouldn't be too loud. In contrast, with sound-isolating earphones, one could play music at much louder volumes and endanger oneself.

The company responded that, since sound-isolating earphones do a much better job of revealing detail in the music at lower volumes and since they do such a good job of blocking out background noises that would ordinarily have to be overcome with higher volume, there is less incentive to use them with exceptionally loud volumes.

That sounds reasonable except that people who play their music at ear-bleeding volumes often don�t care about details. They are, in fact, sometimes the same masochists who are likely to push headphones or speakers past the point of distortion. The high-end manufacturers may be catering to a crowd that cares about quality and listens responsibly, but their products have potential for abuse in the wrong ears.

If you�re got an itchy jog-dial finger when you want to rock out to a favorite song our drown out a crying baby in the next aisle in coach, you should probably do yourself a favor and opt for earbuds that have less potential for abuse. If you�re responsible enough to appreciate details in music without punishing your senses, then a pair of quality sound-isolating earbuds may be the way to go. The most important protection against listening at excessive volumes is, regardless of what�s in your ears, using what�s between them.

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Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis at NPD Techworld, a division of market research and analysis provider The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On, however, are his own. Feedback is welcome at [e-mail].

[ShortDog @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

Perhaps one day, digital music players or high-fidelity earbuds will come with built-in checks that discourage listening at excessive volumes for prolonged periods of time.

Good god, maybe they'll come with built-in DRM protection so that they'll only play the music when inserted in the ear of the person who purchased the music. If people want to go deaf, let 'em. Thins 'em out.

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

I tend to agree with what your 'high end manufacturer's said: you don't have to listen to in-ear phones as loud. Most people I know (including 'young people' too) turn the volume of their music up as loud as a they need to in order to hear all the available detail. You don't look down to see how much louder you could turn up the volume - you stop at a comfortable volume.

As far as protection from excessive volume Sony used to sell all their mini/discmans in the 90's with a circuit (similar to MegaBass) that would automatically damp down on the volume during dramatic increases in loudness. You could set it to 'off' or one or two levels of responsivness. I think they used to call it AVL (auto volume limiter) or something.

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

What you're essentially saying is "stupid people are going to play their music too loud anyways", well that's great but that's not the problem of the earphone manufacturers. That's like telling kitchen knife manufacturers that they should make their knives dull so stupid people won't cut themselves deeply. Something else you're not considering is that everyday noise is already too loud in a lot of cases, such as walking along a noisy downtown street. Damage doesn't come from relatively high volumes, it comes from absolutely high volumes. I have a set of in-ear headphones like the ones pictured and, because I'm not a stupid idiot, I know I can cut the volume by half thus saving my hearing and my battery life.

[Tushar @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

The idea is that the headphones that block out sound are better is correct. When you have to turn UP the headphones that can't block out noise, it is damaging your ears, because you have to turn it up to compete with outside noise, so overall it us much louder

The headphones that block out noise are better because you don't have to turn it up as loud to combat outside noise. So at one level of "perceptible volume", the noise-blocking headphones aren't producing as many decibels.

[Cameron Newland @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

The author is clearly wrong in his reasoning that "if earphones that let in more background noise have to be played at near-maximum volume in order to be heard well, aren�t they �safer�?"

We must understand that the only thing that is important with ear damage is the dB (decibel) level and distance from the eardrum. The background noise does NOT matter.

If there is a ton of noise (say a 90 dB train going by at 100 mph), one must turn up the volume on their Portable Music Player to compensate (maybe to 120 or 140 dB, let's say). It doesn't matter that the train is making noise at the 90 dB level, the only thing that matters with respect to damaging your hearing is the earbud volume, which could be pushed above 140 dB to compensate for the loud environment. This level is clearly unsafe.

Really, the high tech earphones that attempt to eliminate background noise aren't too much safer. The better alternative is to listen to headphones sparingly, and at most 1 hour intervals. Try taking 5 minute Ear Breaks every hour to let your ears adjust back to normal.

Even better, don't listen to any headphones.

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

PS...

I feel really old having used the phrase 'young people.'

[Johnny @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

"Perhaps one day, digital music players or high-fidelity earbuds will come with built-in checks that discourage listening at excessive volumes for prolonged periods of time."

One day you don't uncomfortable things in and around your ears to listen to music, you can directly pass the sound to your brain. In fact, some deaf people are already using implants for this.

[Jonathan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

Dan, I remember the sound dampening feature from my mini-disk player. I never played my music loud enough for the noise volume limiter to have any effect, guess I was too old for the device :( If I still had it with me, I'd dig it out of my pile o' electronic junk and see what the noise limiter was called.

[Scott @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

What it boils down to is this ordinary phones mean loud playback volumes because of city street background/baby crying/lawnmower noise because you need to drown it out. Sound Isolation phones mean closer proximity to eardrum but the seal they create means no background noise to play over so lower volume simple no?

There is of course the third type that employs fancy digital trickery to wipe out repitive background noise but not sudden noise great for drowning out the roar of new york traffic but not the sudden blast of car horn of the taxi driver to warn you to get out of his way. Benifit low volume playback and you can respond to non repitive background noise

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:06AM]

I have recently purchased such a pair of headphones and I can say with absolutely certainty that I am now listening to my music at a much lower volume. The buds completely block out background noise and as a result I can comfortably hear my music without turning the volume up above about 20% of the maximum volume where before I would set it at about 70%.

If you haven't tried them out I highly recommend ordering a pair from Amazon or your friendly neighborhood store with a good return policy. Once you try them out you will never want to go back to the old way again!