This Is News?

"MP3 Players Might Harm Hearing"

Yeah, and vuvuzelas just might do the same thing. I suppose it's noteworthy that the researchers found that hearing was temporarily harmed by listening to an MP3 player at high volume, which I assume leads to louder and louder playing volume and further damage. Then, after 30 years, the iPod generation(s?) will be completely deaf.

If you own an iPod, you might consider setting the max volume at a level that does not hurt your ears, even in quiet surroundings. Then you can be assured that you won't destroy your hearing when you're listening to your music on the plane or at the gym. This is how it is done -

-Settings
-Volume Limit
-Use Clickwheel to set maximum volume
-If you're doing it on your punk kid's iPod, you can even set a combination, or just click "Done."

I Can't Hear You...

Sorry, here's another article from Drudge. According to Dr. Yuri Agrawal of Johns Hopkins University -

"The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is predicted to rise significantly because of an aging population and the growing use of personal listening devices. Indeed, there is concern that we may be facing an epidemic of hearing impairment."

I worry, in particular, about my friends who live in New York and listen to their iPods when they travel on the subway and walk through the streets. Manhattan is already so loud, that to hear your music you have to turn the volume up to damaging levels to overcome all that commotion.

My paternal grandparents, who have lived well into their late 80s (grandmother's still with us), and spent their adulthood mostly in undeveloped countries, suffered almost no hearing loss during their lives. On the other hand, my Italian great aunts, who lived most of their lives in New York, almost all went nearly deaf, though almost all of them also lived into their 90s. Not bad.

Anyway, it's something to keep in mind. Read the article here on Yahoo News.