iPods Make You Deaf And Other Fun Health Warnings

from the exaggerating-the-obvious dept

It's not entirely clear why everyone likes to pick on the iPod, but its popularity seems to attract all sorts of odd warnings about the evilness that is the iPod. In the past, there have been warnings about how iPods are a security risk and a beacon to muggers. The latest, though, is that audiologists are warning that the iPod will make you deaf. Of course, while it sounds alarming, basically they're just saying that loud noises, directly in your ear are a risk. They always have been, from the days of the transistor radio with an earpiece to the walkman. However, how many stories are there of people who are now deaf for listening to their walkmans too loud?
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2005 @ 11:55am

    No Subject Given

    HUH? WHAT DID YOU SAY?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    TrueJim, 11 May 2005 @ 12:30pm

    iPods are in fact louder

    US-sold iPods generally are in fact louder than other MP3 and portable music players, supposedly they say because Steve Jobs is slightly deaf in one ear and insisted on the additional volume for the iPod. See also:
    http://www.macobserver.com/article/2004/07/21.5.shtml
    http://www.capsgetpeeled.com/blog/archives /000198.html

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    dorpus, 11 May 2005 @ 2:39pm

    Let them go deaf

    Why stop macho youngsters from slowly destroying their hearing, so they won't notice it until age 40 or 50? The joke is on them.

    http://www.sean-davidson.com/articles/deaf_to_the_dangers.html

    "Dr. Cheesman says technological changes have made our lives, and our free time, a lot louder. "It could be a leaf blower, it could be a Walkman or jet skis, snowmobiles, dirt bikes, arcades," she says. "Thirty years ago you had to go out to a concert to really get blasted, now we do it to ourselves on a regular basis."

    Doctors say hearing loss, once caused mainly by age or disease, is now increasingly self-inflicted. But because the damage is so gradual, and because most adults don't get tested until middle age, a problem can get quite bad before it's noticed.

    Warning signs such as tinnitus, a sometimes permanent ringing or whooshing in the ears, often go unheeded, say doctors. As nerve cells in the ear die off, sufferers lose their hearing, starting with high-frequency sounds, such as voices."

    Since Mike is so obsessed with the music industry now, maybe he will obsess over the hearing aid industry later on.


    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.