In a bid to prevent millions of people damaging their hearing, the European Commission wants personal music players to default to a 鈥渟afe鈥� sound level and to warn users if they turn up the volume too high. And newly published research from the US confirms that the danger is real.
The commission has asked , the European consumer electronics safety organisation, to draw up a technical standard for the safety features. If approved, it could be enforced in the European Union鈥檚 27 member states by 2011.
Last year, the EU鈥檚 scientific committee on emerging health risks said that habitually set the volume too high, at levels the World Health Organisation says are high enough to cause permanent damage if listened to for more than an hour a day for five years. That is potentially 10 million Europeans, and many more people worldwide.
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These findings informed draft rules by , the European commissioner for consumer affairs.
Turn that down
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to push up the sound levels on MP3 players to damagingly loud levels, especially on busy streets or public transport,鈥� Kuneva said. 鈥淵oung people in particular are listening to music at high volumes, sometimes for hours each week, and have no idea they can be putting their hearing at risk.鈥�
The proposed EU rules would require that music players and cellphones that play music automatically set themselves to a safe sound level when switched on. If the user raises the volume above that level, the display will have to display a warning message.
A paper to be presented at the in San Antonio, Texas, next month backs the EU鈥檚 position. and colleagues from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg will present evidence that music players鈥� peak volume levels are indeed excessive.
Perilous peaks
Goshorn鈥檚 team inserted miniature microphones into the earphones of 31 college students as they listened to what the team describe as 鈥渁 well-known recording by a popular performing artist鈥� on their own music players. They recorded the average and peak sound levels each student exposed themselves to.
The team found that that 55 per cent of the students set their players to 鈥渧ery loud鈥� average levels 鈥� above 85 decibels 鈥� 26 per cent set them to 鈥渓oud鈥� levels 鈥� between 70 and 85 decibels 鈥� while only 19 per cent set them below 70 decibels. But peak levels were much higher, frequently exceeding 100 decibels.
鈥淭he majority set their devices at preferred listening levels that are sufficiently loud to eventually cause permanent hearing loss,鈥� concludes Goshorn.
Voluntary deafness
The new rules would see players default to an average of 80 decibels and advise users how long they can safely listen to any level they do choose. Suggested exposure to the default would be 40 hours per week, but a user listening at 89 decibels would be warned they should not exceed 5 hours per week.
鈥淭hese standards make small technical changes to players so that by default, normal use is safe,鈥� says Kuneva. Manufacturers may not be so keen. Apple, maker of the iPod and iPhone, had not responded to queries about the proposed rules when this story was posted.
Jackie Ballard, chief executive of the UK鈥檚 Royal National Institute for the Deaf, says it is critical for firms like Apple to get behind the idea. 鈥淗earing loss can have a profound affect, causing social isolation and leading people to withdraw from family, work and friends.鈥�
