Ingemi kicks out volume-constraining iHearSafe earbuds

Listen up folks, while you might look mighty trendy rocking those headphones 24 / 7, you should be well aware by now that prolonged periods of heightened volumes can lead to embarrassing moments of near deafness in the future. While one (probably over concerned) citizen in Louisiana and a swarm of French folk both sued Apple for not providing volume limiters on its earbuds, your kid (or you, too) could be harmfully cranking it to eleven if your DAP doesn't sport any kind of volume controlling functionality. Ingemi Corp. -- where "kids comes first," mind you -- have unveiled the iHearSafe 'buds which "have patent pending technology to keep the volume below 80 decibels," regardless of how far you jam that volume knob or incensed you become. Featuring a standard 3.5-millimeter jack, the earbuds are reportedly compatible with any major MP3 player, but priced at just $24.99, we can't imagine any sort of remarkable sound quality being emitted from these guys, quietly or otherwise.

[Via Techie Diva]

[Deluxe @ Nov 20th 2006 6:11AM]

Or alternatively, you could just um... turn it down?

[Mike @ Nov 20th 2006 6:49AM]

From the department of I don't give a shit...

My Sennheiser headphones are more than capable of providing ear damaging volume but with a little restraint it's not difficult to prevent that from happening.

Anyone who doesn't understand that concept shouldn't be using an iPod. Children included.

[Mrfreezie @ Nov 20th 2006 8:21AM]

Or, ya know, you could just get your kid some of those 98 cent ear buds from wal mart.. Those suck so bad they don't go very loud, and I betcha they are cheaper than those things.

[Ignacio @ Nov 20th 2006 8:31AM]

Of course, everyone knows about the iPod's built-in volume limiter, right? (result of the "I�m too dumb to keep the volume down myself"-lawsuit)

"Setting the maximum volume limit on iPod":
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303414
(Date Created: March 02, 2006)

Yes, the volume limit can be changed, but can also be password protected.

[JamesB @ Nov 20th 2006 8:32AM]

Why is this idea idea so offensive to you guys ^^ ? If you don't like it, don't use them. It's not like the government is mandating these controls on device!!!

These things are good. Would I wear them? Probably not, would I buy these for my kids? Definately.

[linda @ Nov 20th 2006 10:42AM]

The "oh I'm so superior" tone of most this page is nauseating. I'm guessing few parents contributed, tho the product seems geared for parental sensibilities. Thankfully ignacio had some real info to add, and James B the more rational perspective, otherwise reading these comments would have been simply an excercise in masochism.

[Aaron @ Nov 20th 2006 11:11AM]

Those are the exact same headphones I have and they are not made by Ingemi.

[aide @ Nov 20th 2006 11:54AM]

this is lower than the crappy 90db phones that come with psp

[Christian Martin @ Nov 20th 2006 11:55AM]

"Why not just make 10 louder?"

[GJP303 @ Nov 20th 2006 3:54PM]

first, if you are to stupid to keep them down, then you shouldn't have them. Second, i think i just saw the ugliest ear buds in the world (beside the ones they give away on the airplane). Come on, people don't want ugly things sticking out of there ears even if it is volume limiting.

[blues277 @ Nov 22nd 2006 4:26PM]

Is this thing worth it? xD

[Brent Edwards @ Dec 8th 2006 5:09PM]

These earpieces are a better than the volume limiter on iPods, which was not a very good solution to the problem. I discuss why and what is a better solutiuon in this post:
http://brentblog.typepad.com/brentblog/2006/03/the_science_of_.html