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Are iPods Making Their Fans Deaf?

I’ve ranted about tinnitus here before, but a salient article in Rolling Stone underscores my point that listening to your iPod too loudly will eventually make you deaf.

Hearing loss is one of the dirty secrets of the music business, and everyone involved-from musicians onstage to fans who crank MP3s through headphones-is at risk. “We turn it up without realizing that we’re doing damage,” says Brian Fligor, an audiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. “Noise-induced hearing loss develops so slowly and insidiously that we don’t know it’s happened until it’s too late.”

More from the article and a link after the jump…


I’ve ranted about tinnitus here before, but a salient article in Rolling Stone underscores my point that listening to your iPod too loudly will eventually make you deaf.

Hearing loss is one of the dirty secrets of the music business, and everyone involved-from musicians onstage to fans who crank MP3s through headphones-is at risk. “We turn it up without realizing that we’re doing damage,” says Brian Fligor, an audiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. “Noise-induced hearing loss develops so slowly and insidiously that we don’t know it’s happened until it’s too late.”
In 1989, Pete Townshend admitted that he had sustained “very severe hearing damage.” Since then, Neil Young, Beatles producer George Martin, Sting, Ted Nugent and Jeff Beck have all discussed their hearing problems. Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood first noticed that he was having trouble hearing conversations in crowded rooms about twelve years ago. “The world’s worst is when you find yourself going like Mother Hubbard and cupping your hand behind your ear,” says Fleetwood. “I was a major glutton for volume: ‘Gotta feel it, gotta hear it.’ Sooner or later you’re going to pay the reaper.”

Read the rest of this important article at Mannais.org.

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.