Ipods and earbuds

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Who star warns of iPod danger

Won't get heard again
Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 04 Jan 2006

Pete Townsend, guitarist with The Who, has warned that the current generation of Apple iPod users could be storing up problems for the future.

Townsend explained on his website that years of wearing headphones in the studio have left him with serious hearing problems. He now has to take 36-hour breaks between working to let his hearing recover.

"Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired," he said. " If you use an iPod or anything like it, or your child uses one, you may be OK. But my intuition tells me there is terrible trouble ahead."

Townsend added that The Who, along with Pink Floyd, had pioneered the use of PA systems at live performances, but that it was the use of headphones that had caused the most damage.

The guitarist also revealed that he was not the only member of The Who to suffer hearing loss. Bass guitarist John Entwistle, who died in 2002, had similar problems which caused him to drift out of time with the drummer during solos.

"I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal proponents deaf," warned Townsend. "It takes time, but it happens. "
 
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the headphones and not their sound systems, eh? Thanks to an ambitious friend, I had front row seats to see the 'OO in either '78 or '79 (my memory is a bit murky; I think it was '79). My ears rang for a day and a half afterwards.

I don't think Pete's deafness was headphone-induced.
 
Ipod Users should know...

Its the fact that the earbuds fit in the ear canal, making extreamly high SPL levels for the inner ear. Even at what may seem like a normal listening level, you are causing damage to you ears within less than an hour!

THe traditional over-the-ear types gives more open room for the sound preasure to disipate, rather than concentrating it inside the ear canal.

What they should do is put an AVLS (auto volume limiting system) in these iPods so the dumb to don't become the deaf and dumb.

However in any case, moderate volumes will of course destroy hearing. If you turn it up just to the point where you feel comfortable, then leave it alone, you're fine. Just don't turn it up.
 
mhardy6647 said:
the headphones and not their sound systems, eh? Thanks to an ambitious friend, I had front row seats to see the 'OO in either '78 or '79 (my memory is a bit murky; I think it was '79). My ears rang for a day and a half afterwards.

I don't think Pete's deafness was headphone-induced.

I was hoping someone might see the irony here. :)

I do still believe that for the average person listening that this is true.
 
Pete, Pete, Pete. It couldn't have been those stacks of HiWatts now could it? I feel for his hearing loss, but he is the poster child for "it goes to 11." (And beyond!)

But he does have a valid message. I completely agree that it would have been responsible to have included a switchable AVLS to the iPod -- my Sony MZ-50 portable minidisc player/recorder had it years ago. Don't know how it got by Apple's lawyers -- probably ran a Lexus check and saw lawsuits didn't hold up. I have stressed to my kids since the first cassette Walkmans to be moderate with the Vol and earphones/buds.

Of course, this from the guy who saw the Outlaws and 38 Special (openers) up close in the late '70s, and had nuclear bees buzzing in his head for a couple of days later. I think that was from the music...
 
I always wear ear plugs when I go to a club, or live music event. I don't know why they insist on playing it so loud everywhere. Most places have the volume so high that all you can hear is a distorted mess. The amps are clean, but it completely overwhelms my ears. I can actually hear the music more clearly with 20 dB of attenuation! When you have to scream directly into someone's ear for them to understand you, it's too loud! I feel sorry for all the people around me that go to clubs week after week with no ear protection.

This is what I use:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx
 
I always wear ear plugs when I go to a club, or live music event.
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I agree. I grew up in the heyday of the big arena bands. I had a headache for 2 days once after a Ted Nugent show, and I didn't have more than maybe 3 or 4 beers....

Tip: if you find you're at a show or club and the volume is killing you and you can't find foam earplugs, a cigarette filter works great too. Try to find a chick that smokes Vantage, or some other brand with the chambered air filters, and bum a few off of her. It's a great conversation starter too--I once spawned a huge surge in filter use at the House of Blues at a Nugent show once a few people saw what I was doing!

Franz
 
Funny how he mentioned the Floyd Blues Council there. I just saw a DVD on the making of Dark Side (2004- 'Classic Albums' series) yesterday that featured interviews with David and the gang. It struck me as to why or how he could have any hearing left at all, but there didn't seem to be any problem. How could that be??? Is this something that involves great individual suceptibility (hearing loss due to loud sound)? -sf

(PS. A lot more people are buying the iPod than listening to it. :)
 
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Man, my mom sent me this article in an email because she knows how much time I spend listening to headphones. I wrote her back saying everything you guys have, and just because Pete is a rockstar with hearing loss doesn't mean he's an expert on hearing loss.

Still, folks that blast their iBuds loud enough to be audible to a third party standing some five to ten feet away really need a good scare, but this article makes no mention of safe listening practices. I hope whoever wrote this doesn't actually consider themself a journalist -- just more scare-trash with no useful info.
 
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