iPod Hearing Loss Protection for Boomers: Five HearPod Solutions

Aug 7, 2012 by SardiWernett666

Given that their debut in the marketplace, iPods have revolutionized the way we listen to music. iPod challenging drives retailer up to 300 hours of music, batteries last for 12 hours, and the volume can be cranked up to 120 decibels. Thats louder than a chain saw or pneumatic drill, and equivalent to a jet plane taking off! But iPod fans are getting warned to turn their music down. Even manufacturer, Apple, contains a cautionary note with every single iPod, warning, “permanent hearing loss may take place if earphones or headphones are employed at high volume.”

At the moment, 16 million baby boomers have hearing loss and the quantity is anticipated to surge to 78 million by 2030. Amazingly, virtually 3-quarters of them admit that they have by no means visited a physician or hearing well being specialist to have a hearing test. In spite of this lack of concern, there are much more boomers aged 46 to 64 with hearing loss than seniors more than the age of 65 with the same condition, and hearing loss among infant boomers is 26 percent more common than in prior generations.

Loud music and noise causes hearing loss by damaging the delicate hair nerve cells in the cochlea, a component of the inner ear that assists transmit sound impulses to the brain. These hair cells frequently recover from temporary harm. However, permanent harm can happen with prolonged exposure to very loud or moderately loud noise. When these nerve hair cells are destroyed, irreversible hearing loss outcomes.

A lot of individuals who listen to iPods in noisy environments pump up the volume to hazardous levels to drown out background noise. Busy city hubs and subway noise (about 90 decibels) are currently sufficiently loud to cause permanent damage with considerable exposure. Although the harm from chronic exposure to these sound levels is typically slow, it is cumulative. Music lovers who tolerate noise levels above 85 decibels for extended periods will finish up with irreversible hearing loss.

Here are five actions you can take to protect yourself from hearing loss:

1. Limit the volume of your iPod to 60 decibels (db), about two-thirds of the maximum volume.

two. Try to limit listening to no much more than 60 minutes a day.

3. Put on sound-isolating or noise-canceling headphones that fit more than the ear, instead of ear buds that are inserted directly in the ear. This is due to the fact when employing ear buds, you nevertheless hear the external noise. You turn up the volume to drown out the noise, boosting the sound signals by as considerably as six to nine decibels over the noise. You can hear the music from your iPod, but you are unaware of the excessive volume.

four. Take benefit of the free of charge download Apple is now supplying for the iPod Nano, and iPod models with video-playback capabilities. The download consists of a setting to limit the volume.

5. If you are experiencing tinnitus (ringing in the ears), muffled sound immediately after listening to your iPod, or you are obtaining difficulty hearing conversations, check out to a doctor and take a hearing test.

During my first 20 years in hearing wellness practice, our clientele had been mostly seniors about 75 years of age. Nonetheless, more than the past 10 years, I have noticed a massive difference in our clientele. These days, child boomers of all ages are generating appointments, and most of them have noise-induced hearing loss.

Loud rock music and living life ‘full on’ in an amplified noisy society have contributed to hearing loss amongst infant boomers. Nonetheless, if we comply with the iPod 60-60 Protection Plan, we can appreciate our iPods and continue to live life to the fullest.

To find out more about it, please go to: the infographic