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| health information | health news

MP3 users risk premature hearing loss

14 September 2007

Key facts

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), listening to earphones at 85 decibels or more for over an hour at a time can damage hearing.
MP3 players can play music at over 100 decibels depending on the model and the type of headphones. A pneumatic drill about 10 feet away has a noise level of approximately 100 decibels; 85 decibels is the equivalent of a loud alarm clock at close proximity and 110-120 decibels is equivalent noise levels in a nightclub (RNID).

Young people who regularly use MP3 players may be at risk of premature hearing damage, according to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). The charity is urging manufacturers to include warnings on their product packaging and to link volume levels to decibels - so people know when they've reached a damaging volume.

To support its campaign, the RNID has reported results of a survey showing that more than two thirds of 18-30 year olds listen to their MP3 players at "dangerously high volumes". The charity tested 110 volunteers' MP3 players and 72 people were listening to music at over 85 decibels.

Brian Lamb, Acting Chief Executive of RNID, said, "It's easy to crank up the sound levels on your MP3 player to damagingly loud levels, especially on busy streets or public transport. But if people can hear the music from your headphones from just a metre away, you're putting your hearing at risk."

The RNID advise people to turn their players down a notch and take a five minute rest from their headphones for every hour they listen. The charity is also urging people to invest in in-ear filters for headphones, which help to cancel out background noise and reduce the need to increase volume levels.

Susan Duncan, spokesperson of the RNID, believes manufacturers should take a greater responsibility for the hearing health of their customers. "A good idea would be to introduce some kind of on-screen alert when a person turns the volume up past a threshold of 85 decibels. Then people could tell if they were potentially damaging their hearing.

Susan Duncan said the RNID has plans for further research. "We aim to conduct a wider scale, more rigorous, scientific study in the laboratory in the near future".