This guide is to help you and provide you some tips and for your knowledge and Not To Create A Fear

Increasing Popularity, Great number of choices , Small, Easy, Good and Fall in Prices and the Coolness factor of having one factors have made us to buy one of the Portable Media Players

They let you listen to the music on the go and give hours of battery life and easily charge back again in no time from your laptops.
And They have lots of other features that you know geeks know them much better then a layman out there !

Now a days even a 5k cellphone comes with Descent Music Player and FM tuner !! this adds to it !!

One of the most neglected factor by people is the hearing problems that these MP3 players bring with themselves. This will now be proved .

Presented will the research done by scientists and noise experts to prove the point !!!

The damage to your ears is depends both on the noise level and time of exposure

Sound levels is measured in A-weighted decibel (dBA) units its on a logarithmic scale

which means 2dBA is 10 times 1dBA !! Note This Point !!


Noise level Table
How loud is too loud?

Decibel level What we hear

10 dB Normal breathing
20 dB Rustling leaves, mosquito
30 dB Whisper
40 dB Stream, refrigerator humming
50-60 dB Quiet office
50-65 dB Normal conversation
60-65 dB Laughter Every day Conversation
70 dB Vacuum cleaner, hair dryer Restaurant
75 dB Dishwasher
78 dB Washing machine, High Class Room without a teacher
80 dB Garbage disposal, city traffic noise

Prolonged exposure to any noise above 85 dB can cause gradual hearing loss.

84 dB Diesel truck
70-90 dB Recreational vehicle
88 dB Subway, motorcycle
85-90 dB Lawnmower
100 dB Train, garbage truck
97 dB Newspaper press
98 dB Farm tractor

Regular exposure of more than 1 minute risks permanent hearing loss.

103 dB Jet flyover at 100 feet
105 dB Snowmobile
110 dB Jackhammer, power saw, symphony orchestra
120 dB Thunderclap, discotheque/boom box
110-125 dB Stereo Rock Music
110-140 dB Rock concerts
130 dB Jet takeoff, shotgun firing
145 dB Boom cars

A Flash Based Meter with Noise

Another one check this one too


Music dBA levels

60-70 dB normal piano practice
70 dB fortissimo singer 3 ft. away
75-85 dB chamber music in small auditorium
84-103 dB violin
85-111 dB flute
85-114 dB trombone
106 dB timpani & bass drum rolls
120-137 dB symphonic music peak
150 dB rock music peak

Safe levels beyond which u face risk

80 dBA 8hrs ( but note 80dBA is Considered risky in the long term )
90 dbA 8 hrs
92 dbA 6 hrs
95 dbA 4 hrs ( This is the level @ which people listen to in heavy traffic )
97 dbA 3 hrs ( This is the most common level set by teenagers in presence of 75dBA ambient noise )
100 dbA 2 hrs
102 dbA 1.5 hrs
105 dbA 1 hr
110 dbA 0.5 hr
115 dbA 0.25 hr or le

So the sound level at a normal conversation is 60dBA and if your mom calls you or some one says something to you when you are listening to music and you can't hear then it means you are listening to music @ 80dBA


Sound Levels about 80 dBA are considered dangerous !! That that's also the sound level of city traffic !! Now If you are listening to music in city traffic then the output of your music player will be certainly more then the ambient sound of 80dbA and will be around 90dBA which is very dangerous when exposure time is long !!

If you think you have "gotten used to" the noise you are routinely exposed to, then most likely you have already suffered damage and have acquired a permanent hearing loss. Don't be fooled by thinking your ears are "tough" or that you have the ability to "tune it out"! Noise induced hearing loss is usually gradual and painless, but, unfortunately, permanent. Once destroyed, the hearing nerve and its sensory nerve cells do not regenerate!

Noise hearing loss usually starts with high frequencies !!
High frequency sound ringtones are used by students in USA in classrooms !!
Simply Put the Younger Students can hear the high frequencies well but the teacher can't and hence small kids use these ringtones in the middle of classroom to go unnoticed !!

Getting Back to Sound Levels by Music Players these charts make it clear !



So you can clearly see that volume levels of 60-70 % is risky !!


All combinations of headphones/earphones and MP3 players generate potentially harmful sound levels !

It will take from 12 minutes (at 102 dBA) to seven hours (at 86 dBA) to exceed the occupational noise limit noted above. You will exceed the limit in just one minute if you played heavy metal or pop music at full volume levels of 114 dBA. At this sound level, exposure for longer durations can pose a risk of immediate, serious and permanent hearing loss. !!!


The Bottom Line Is Your MP3 Player Will Damage Your Ears Any Way !!!

Bose that's why came up noise cancellation headphones for airlines.....remember the ad ??

So when there is lots of ambient noise just shut your music player and save your ears !! And save your a$$... you dont want to get dumped by your gf and fired by your bose coz u dont listen to them ( read u cant hear them ) !!

Compiled from various sources !!

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65381