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, arent 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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
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, arent 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.