by Dr. David

Created on: February 20, 2009

Often the cliched phrase, you don't know what you've got until it's gone, is used to describe things such as money, people, and ways of life. Unfortunately that same phrase can be used to express the senses of vision, touch, and hearing. Even more unfortunate is that hundreds of millions of people will have impaired hearing because they weren't warned. Ipod's and other mp3 players must put volume restrictions and warning notices on their products, because they are damaging the hearing of millions of people each day. People are not warned nearly enough about the problems of extended exposure to high decibel volumes, especially on things that are as immensely popular as mp3 players.

Many things can cause hearing loss. A gun shot, chainsaw, or even thunder can cause permanent hearing damage. With a chainsaw, constant exposure is required to cause damage, while a gun shot and thunder can cause hearing damage in the blink of an eye. For constant exposure, you would be surprised how little time it takes to cause hearing damage. For example a chainsaw emits a 110 decibel sound and within two minutes of exposure, hearing damage has begun. There are warnings on chainsaws about the possibility of hearing damage, but no on mp3 players.

Mp3 players are things that millions of people use on a daily basis, but there are no warning for hearing damage on them, yet the risk is just as possible. According to a Consumer Reports, April 2006 report, playing music at max volume, mp3 players averaged 97 decibels ("Consumer Reports"). Using an mp3 player for more than a half an hour of at the volume of 97 decibels is enough to cause permanent hearing damage ("Dangerous Decibels"). Listening to music at 80% volume for more than an hour and a half on an mp3 player can also cause hearing damage ("IPods"). These statistics are staggering, and it is very disappointing that very few people who own mp3 players know about them. Now, you may say that you never use your mp3 player above 80% volume. Have you ever tried to drown out the sound of a busy street, subway, or a noisy gym? If you know you have for any of these it is likely you caused some hearing damage.

After a mere hour of listening to my IPod, my ears hurt. Millions of people, however, listen to their mp3 players daily, and usually listen to them longer than one hour. People play them to drown out other noises, and to relax, but they don't realize how much damage they are doing to their hearing. Most of these people are children,

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