User:Maximadams/Headphones

Health and safety
See also: Automatic volume limiter

Dangers and risks
Product testing - headphones in an anechoic chamber Using headphones at a sufficiently high volume level may cause temporary or permanent hearing impairment or deafness. The headphone volume often has to compete with the background noise, especially in loud places such as subway stations, aircraft, and large crowds. Extended periods of exposure to high sound pressure levels created by headphones at high volume settings may be damaging to hearing; Nearly 50% of teenagers and young adults (12 to 35 years old) in middle and high income countries listen to unsafe levels of sound on their personal audio devices and smartphones. However, one hearing expert found in 2012 (before the worldwide adoption of smartphones as the main personal listening devices) that "fewer than 5% of users select volume levels and listen frequently enough to risk hearing loss." The International Telecommunication Union recently published "Guidelines for safe listening devices/systems" recommended that sound exposure not exceed 80 decibels, A-weighted dB(A) for a maximum of 40 hours per week. The European Union have also set a similar limit for users of personal listening devices (80 dB(A) for no more than 40 hours per week) and for each additional increase of 3-dB in sound exposure, the duration should be cut in half (83 dB(A) for no more than 20 hours, 86 dB(A) for 10 hours per week, 89 dB(A) for 5 hours per week and so on. Most major manufactures of smartphones now include some safety or volume limiting features and warning messaging in their devices. though such practices have received mixed response from some segments of the buying who favor the personal choice of setting their own volume levels.

The usual way of limiting sound volume on devices driving headphones is by limiting output power. This has the additional undesirable effect of being dependent of the efficiency of the headphones; a device producing the maximum allowed power may not produce adequate volume when paired with low-efficiency, high-impedance equipment, while the same amount of power can reach dangerous levels with very efficient earphones.

Some studies have found that people are more likely to raise volumes to unsafe levels while performing strenuous exercise. A Finnish study recommended that exercisers should set their headphone volumes to half of their normal loudness and only use them for half an hour.

Other than hearing risk, there is a general danger that listening to loud music in headphones can distract the listener and lead to injury and accidents. Noise-cancelling headphones add extra risk. Several countries and states have made it illegal to wear headphones while driving or cycling.

There have also been numerous reports of contact dermatitis due to exposure to in-ear headphones such as Apple AirPods. The contact dermatitis would be caused by in-ear headphones that contain gold, rubber, dyes, acrylates, or methacrylates. However, there have been no studies done to prove that exposure to in-ear headphones will cause contact dermatitis, rather that there is a correlation between in-ear headphone use and contact dermatitis cases.

References[edit]

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 * 2) ^ Stanley R. Alten Audio Basics Cengage 2011 ISBN 0-495-91356-1 page 63
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 * 33) ^ United States Department of Labor. Occupational Safety & Health Administration. Computer Workstation. Checklist. Archived 2009-02-02 at the Wayback Machine Accessed February 2, 2009.
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 * 42) ^ Airo, Erkko; J. Pekkarinen; P. Olkinuora. "Listening to music with earphones: an assessment of noise exposure," Acustica–Acta Acustica, pp. 82, 885–894. (1996)
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