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.

While some may think that standard-issue Ear2s are sufficient for detecting sounds that are too loud, the Hollins Communications Research Institute would have you believe otherwise, and for $50 they're willing to sell you a gadget that'll tell you when to turn down the volume or leave the room. A year in development, the Ear3 "Sonic Threat Indicator" uses specially calibrated electronics to warn you DHS-style of impending auditory doom, with a green light indicating a safe listening level, alternating green/red lights warning you to dial back the volume, a steady red light indicating possible hearing damage, and a flashing red light warning you that the tune you're listening to may be your last. It also apparently works equally well with headphones or earphones, although you'll have to keep taking them off and holding 'em up to the Ear3 every time you change the volume. Of course, you could get a pair of headphones that automatically constrain the volume, or, you know, just turn the volume down.

[Via Techdirt]

Even though it may seem rather obvious that listening to loud music (whether through headphones or speakers) has the potential to cause hearing damage, apparently 58% of 16 to 30-year-old Brits are blissfully unaware of this fact, so a UK-based charitable organization is now calling on DAP manufacturers to affix more prominent warning labels to their products. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) has apparently contacted all of the leading makers of MP3 players with a plea to include cigarette-type notification on all of their packaging, citing music lovers like 27-year-old "Cath" who claimed, "I was shocked when I found out that by listening to my MP3 player too loudly I could do serious damage to my hearing. If I saw a warning on the box I'd definitely take it more seriously." RNID has even set up a website called Don't Lose the Music where folks like the gentleman who sued Apple can find supposedly unbiased statistics and facts about hearing loss, along with tips -- such as turning the volume down -- that will reduce your chances of going partially or fully deaf. We're most interested in finding out how our readers feel about this issue; i.e. how far do companies need to go in order to convey the dangers of their products -- for instance, do knife manufacturers need to tell us in big bold letters that we risk cutting ourselves, or should the makers of sunglasses warn us not to stare directly into the sun?

[Via ArsTechnica]