Study finds teens don't really care about their hearing

Those darn kids -- they just don't listen! And soon, according to a report, they won't physically be able to listen. It seems that modern teens, with their cloaking jackets, space telephones, and telepathic headsets fail to obey the simplest tenet of leisure-time music enjoyment: keeping their iPod and Zune volumes at a semi-natural level. In focus-group discussions, researchers found that high school students in the Netherlands were aware of the potential hearing loss which can be caused by high volume listening, yet had no immediate plans to crank their jams at anything but 11. Typical of our misguided youth, the teens feel that they have a "low personal vulnerability" to hearing loss -- researchers also noted that they believed they were bulletproof, could fly, and would never, ever lose touch with people who signed their yearbook. The study's findings suggest that the answer to this problem may lie with manufacturers of hardware and solutions like volume caps or warning lights, rather than with the self-control of the end user.

[Chad @ Mar 27th 2008 8:46AM]

Love the Spinal Tap reference...

[technophobe @ Mar 27th 2008 9:10AM]

but it's one louder

[Backlin @ Mar 27th 2008 10:37AM]

ROFL, 11 is only half of the volume on the Zune!

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 27th 2008 11:59AM]

Actually, 11 is 11/20ths of Zune's volume level; an irreducable fraction.

[Blackstar @ Mar 27th 2008 1:25PM]

Now, if we could only figure out a way to inhibit their ability to speak...

[erhan @ Mar 27th 2008 1:57PM]

"Live young, Die hard."

They honestly think that young people care about their body? lol

[vdogg89 @ Mar 27th 2008 2:15PM]

love your avatar

[Chuckles McGee @ Mar 27th 2008 3:53PM]

Best written article of the day award!

[computer.dude.28 @ Mar 27th 2008 6:34PM]

Chuckles McGee

if you love his avatar I think you'll find that you love mine.. twice as much.

[computer.dude.28 @ Mar 27th 2008 6:35PM]

Whoops make that vdogg89 sorry chuckles.

[oakie @ Mar 27th 2008 8:47AM]

captain obvious has come to our rescue for only a few million dollars and a "study".

fuckin DUH.

[mushrooshi @ Mar 27th 2008 8:48AM]

Screw hearing, what about sanity!?!

[opus67 @ Mar 27th 2008 8:49AM]

And how is this different from when we were kids?

[Eric @ Mar 27th 2008 8:56AM]

You'd think the parents of these children would have a little more of a clue. I don't have kids, but most of my contemporaries do, mostly teens. Didn't we learn anything from the Walkmen and ear-slitting concerts in concrete arenas?

Or maybe I'm the only one with a high pitched ringing and a 3dB drop at 1KHz (tested by an audiologist)?

Maybe that's how Steve is keeping us all under his control...

[John @ Mar 27th 2008 9:04AM]

"most of my contemporaries do"

do you not have friends either?

Also, my parents yelled at me to turn my headphones down all the time when I was younger. It didn't matter; I'd leave the room and I would turn it back up. My hearing ability is less than it was, but hell, who cares? Live a little, people. You're not going to hear at all when you're dead!

[r3loaded @ Mar 27th 2008 11:42AM]

I'm at the end of my teenage years, I enjoy a very wide range of music, yet I never felt the urge to turn my music up to ridiculous levels. On speakers, maybe for a couple of minutes, never on headphones.

Hopefully, Darwin's theory will get rid of a large swathe of members of "my" generation..

[Tom Boucher @ Mar 27th 2008 11:52AM]

Thinking the same thing, I'm 36, when I was a teen walkmans were hot and they would destroy your hearing, i didn't care.

i have some slight hearing loss already, that, or I'm good at ignoring things.

[dBs @ Mar 27th 2008 2:27PM]

@Eric
"Or maybe I'm the only one with a high pitched ringing and a 3dB drop at 1KHz (tested by an audiologist)?"

WOO! High pass filter!

[Neal @ Apr 11th 2008 6:55PM]

Best explanation for the irrational teenage behavior we all know (and perpetrated ourselves as teens) is from signaling theory. The most reliable signals we can send are the ones with the highest cost. If you want to send the message that, say, you have the market cornered on youthfulness, and you want that message to be believed, then you do the things that will cost you that very resource, like listening to music too loud, laying out in the sun, generally being self-destructive.

[Down @ Mar 27th 2008 8:53AM]

"My sons iPod doesn't say anything about potential loss of hearing! I need you, Apple, to pay me $50,000,000 for damages to my sons ears, done without any warning."

[Ignacio @ Mar 27th 2008 9:53AM]

Actually, that already happened - the iPod is sold in the US, remember? ;)

That's why every iPod has a volume limiter and yes, a warning about hearing loss included in the docs.

[nick @ Mar 27th 2008 8:53AM]

Yep. But three short years ago I was one such teen. Went to many a concert and stood right next to the speakers. Now I have tinnitus and hearing loss. Don't know how I could have been so stupid. Aye, will we ever learn?

[phanbouy @ Mar 27th 2008 3:08PM]

yes but i...i...i... was told i could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume from 9 to 11. and and i told lumbergh that if sandra can listen to hear headphones while she's collating then i can listen to my radio at a reasonable volume

/Milton

[ChodalBerryWagon @ Mar 28th 2008 1:51AM]

crap... I hope that doesn't happen to me...
I went to the Smashing Pumpkins concert last night and was sorta close to the speakers (about 5 metres away) and my right ear is still ringing (been almost a day) - I really hope it goes away!


...or maybe I'm, dare I say, OVER-REACTING!?

[ReggieXuk @ Mar 27th 2008 8:53AM]

Even when you demonstrate that sound can be heard just as good with it at medium volume. Nooooooooooo they want it loud.

And then they blame natural sounds for being too quite when its their ears that are messed up.

Ignorance is bliss =/

[Jon Doe. @ Mar 27th 2008 8:55AM]

So teens are stupid....this is news how?

[John @ Mar 27th 2008 8:57AM]

what?

[Jon Doe. @ Mar 27th 2008 9:03AM]

Its called adolescence and growing up. I don't think there is a single teen in the history of this planet who who didn't do something stupid while growing up....hence the reason its called growing up. Sadly unlike a scraped knee or a broken bone to learn a lesson loosing your hearing isn't something that can just be fixed.

[Jason @ Mar 27th 2008 9:14AM]

What?

[Jared @ Mar 27th 2008 8:56AM]

"The study's findings suggest that the answer to this problem may lie with manufacturers of hardware and solutions like volume caps or warning lights, rather than with the self-control of the end user"

Oh yes. Because of course it's the responsibility of everyone else to protect people from the evil of Personal Responsibility

[ScareyJ @ Mar 27th 2008 9:05AM]

Agreed, it's insane we spend so much time and energy fighting Darwinism.

[Wwhat @ Mar 27th 2008 1:03PM]

I want to agree and say 'let them go deaf, who cares' but I'm already going nuts from the noise in this city and the screaming people do in cellphones, so I'm not looking forward to more and more of that because everybody went half-deaf.
Not to mention that you have to communicate with them too.

[ugg.tryptophan @ Mar 27th 2008 7:44PM]

I think the higher levels of sound players are capable of are for the weaker speakers, like the ones in old car stereos. i always listen to my zune at a max of level 4 when wearing headphones to prevent tinnitus, and im 16.

[Jon Doe. @ Mar 27th 2008 8:58AM]

PS- My uncle has invested heavily in hearing aid companies. He is convinced that there is a shit load of money to be made there when these kids get older and they can't hear for shit.

[John @ Mar 27th 2008 9:13AM]

No thanks, I'll learn ASL and help fund the interpreting profession.

[Ted @ Mar 27th 2008 9:36AM]

Isn't he worried that 40 or so years from now when these teens get to that age, there will be a surgical procedure for improving hearing?

[MacroEQ @ Mar 27th 2008 8:59AM]

The majority of Engadget readers these days seem to be iPhone loving teens without any knowledge of technology at all.

How will this article wash with Engadget's core readers?

Bring back the pre-AOL days when Engadget had proper articles with good old fashioned technology reports.

[John @ Mar 27th 2008 9:14AM]

Alright, grandpa, time for your morphine drip. Get back in bed!

[KOM @ Mar 27th 2008 12:43PM]

There is an operation now, and they won't do it except for total hearing loss. The ear is a tricky, tricky thing, actually it is harder to mess with than the eyes.

I am 40 and I wear two hearing aides. Invest in oticon. I want to get those bluetooth fellas.

[Reader @ Mar 27th 2008 1:39PM]

Did you just reference the AOL day in a positive tone non-sarcastically? I think there's a law against that somewhere...

[John @ Mar 27th 2008 8:59AM]

on the bright side, those of us who did and do care about our hearing will get to feel like superheroes later in life.

[John @ Mar 27th 2008 9:09AM]

Enjoy that. In the meantime, I'll be off making love to a woman.

[Vortex @ Mar 27th 2008 10:34AM]

Additionally: "Seconded. People think that there's some kind of bonus in the afterlife for having full hearing ability. It's the same with drinking and the occasional cigar (and what about those people who practice abstinence? HAH!); enjoy it while you're still here!"

I'm not hellbent on "using up" my body while I still can, but I still enjoy my sensations. Additionally, not all people believe that the height of one's experience lies in bedding people. (Both puns were unintended. :P )

[Dude @ Mar 27th 2008 9:01AM]

If it's too loud you're too old!

[Puneet @ Mar 27th 2008 9:03AM]

odd such kind on an article is posted on this tech blog :) seems off topic is all :)

[computer.dude.28 @ Mar 28th 2008 12:06AM]

Why the hell is hearing loss cause by the cranking of music coming from electronic devices off topic in a gadget blog??

[Phoenix @ Mar 27th 2008 9:04AM]

huh. So we're all stupid. Thanks.

but no, this is a serious issue. we just knew that already.

But then what about those shops that play a loud continuous sound at pitches that adults can't hear, to stop teenagers loitering outside the shop? surely they're damaging the teenagers ears every time they walk past

[smiler @ Mar 27th 2008 9:13AM]

Things might be better if the likes of Apple provided decent earphones with their products. Apple's earbuds are useless - more sound goes out of the casing than into the ear canal.

When I bought some Sennheiser CX300s, I used the volume limit on my iPod for fear of inadvertently deafening myself! The battery lasts longer too.

Still, like others send, this is just common sense.

[technophobe @ Mar 27th 2008 9:16AM]

Presumably the same damage (if any) is also being done to adult ears because just cos they can't hear it doesnt mean it's not there.

It's like the old tree falling in a forest, does it make a sound?

[JAmerican @ Mar 27th 2008 9:15AM]

They will when they go def. But then it will be too late. You could relate it to smokers who don't care about their lungs until they have to carry around oxygen tanks to survive.