Comments on: iPod, Volume Limiting, and Constant Phantom Ringing Noises.

By: bbum’s weblog-o-mat » Blog Archive » iPod can protect hearing, too!

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:45:04 +0000

[...] The trick is to set the volume limiter to a reasonable level in a quiet room and then not worry about blowing out your ears when in noisy environment like on a tractor or in an airplane. [...]

By: Pierce Wetter

Pierce Wetter — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 01:33:25 +0000

I use etymotic earphones after trying them at WWDC a couple of years ago.

They’re kind of like earplugs with speakers in them.

Check ‘em out.

By: bbum

bbum — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 23:18:32 +0000

I completely agree that people listen to music way too loudly. I was one of those people at one time. Fortunately, I stopped before I did severe damage, but my ears are not at 100%.

That doesn’t make the lawsuit any less stupid. Portable CD players are far more popular than the iPod (for now and, by simple math, one would expect portable CD players to be a far larger cause of hearing damage than iPods. As well, different headphones have different gains/efficiency. Volume level 8 on one headphone may be barely a whisper while it may be ear damaging with another set of headphones.

Hell, lawnmowers cause hearing damage, too. Maybe we should ban lawnmowers?

Your gun analogy is tragically flawed. There is no correlation between # of guns own and # of people killed by guns. About the only correlation between guns and gun related shootings seems to be related to cultural issues. If you have a culture that either glorifies brandishing a gun or a society where power is measured by amount of firepower, you have gun related deaths.

Laws enacted to protect people too stupid to protect themselves are inherently stupid.

By: Your Attorney

Your Attorney — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 21:44:51 +0000

o I don’t have any trouble recognizing stupidity. Converting a NSImage to monochrome using the NSReadPixel API can be seen as a good example of it.

o Young people loosing their hearing capacity because of loud music (concert, walkman) is a medical known fact. If you think people are clever enough not to listen to music at the maximum volume, then you should get out and wonder why in public transportation, you don’t need an iPod because you can hear the guy-next-seat iPod (or any other MP3 player) loud and clear.

Moreover, since the limitation has been introduced, then probably, this was not a stupid case. Sometimes, some good things are coming out of stupid ideas.

To end my “stupid” post, stupid comparison:

Known fact: guns when used can kill people

Hypothesis: you must be really stupid to shoot someone.

Observed results: People die from shooting every year.

Question: would trying to prevent selling guns to the public be a stupid idea?

By: John C. Randolph

John C. Randolph — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 16:15:58 +0000

Counselor,

Since you purport to be an attorney yourself, perhaps you’re not objective when it comes to recognizing sutpidity, particularly in litigation.

Fucking ambulance-chasers.

-jcr

By: Charles

Charles — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 09:41:08 +0000

People have no self control, and want to be saved from themselves. It’s like an old joke:

Patient: Doctor, Doctor, my ears hurt when I play my iPod on 10!
Doctor: Well, then don’t do that!

I’m so deaf from tinnitus (not caused by loud music, but by ear disease) and the standard earbuds are so unresponsive that I play my iPod on about 9. But I just got the Etymotic ER6i in-ear phones, and I can hear much more clearly, now I can listen to my iPod on about 4 or 5. I haven’t quite gotten used to the deep in-ear insertion, I’m thinking of having the custom ear molds made for a custom fit, maybe that will be more comfortable.

By: bbum

bbum — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 07:20:43 +0000

Heh. That’s pretty funny.

I don’t hide the fact that I am an employee of Apple. Hell, I announced that very fact on my weblog when I was hired.

The lawsuit is stupid. I would say it was stupid if it were brought against any manufacturer of electronics. The reason why it is stupid is obvious — headphones have different levels of efficiency. To put it plainly, you can take two different headphones, set an iPod (or any other device) to any given volume level, and the headphones will have two completely different volume levels when plugged in.

To repeat and in even more simplistic terms: Headphone A may be deafeningly loud at a volume level of 8 while headphone B is barely audible at a volume level of 8.

Now, if Apple hardwired the ear buds into the iPod such that it were impossible to change headphones, then it would be a different situation. Not very different — pretty much every audio device sold can damage your hearing if you turn it up loud enough.

By: Your Attorney

Your Attorney — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 07:04:00 +0000

I don’t see why the lawsuit is stupid.

The sound volume limitation is a requirement in Europe.

As you don’t hide who your employer is, it’s at least easy to understand that you are not objective when it comes to Apple.

By: John C. Randolph

John C. Randolph — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 01:04:56 +0000

I use a set of Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones, and they’re amazing. The first time I used them on a plane, they cancelled the engine noise, which I was expecting, but better still, there was a kid in the row in front of me crying through most of the flight, and I could tell because I could see him. I had to flip the switch a few times just to be sure, but sure enough, he was howling, and the phones were damping it.

-jcr

By: Bob Frank

Bob Frank — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:58:10 +0000

FWIW: I have a pair of Sennheiser noise canceling headphones. They're relatively light and fairly open. I also use them in the office all the time. The first time I put them on I was surprised how much noise the office makes even if no one else is around (ventilation, ect.) amazon link to headphones