Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 15:36
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Remember the warnings in the 80s about listening to your Walkman at too
high a volume, and recent warnings the same was the case with mp3
players and iPods? EU scientists have released new “scientific opinion”
that 5-10% of mp3 users risk permanent hearing loss. So, what’s new?
In a time of economic crisis, the great European
Union is wasting money on scientific studies to tell us stuff that we
knew in the 1980s – listening to personal music mp3 players at loud
volumes could damage your hearing.
Now, I’m not against science, in fact, I’m all for it. But I’m against
the European Commission wasting the time and money of an “independent
scientific committee” to examine the issue of whether listening to
music at a high volume could damage your hearing or not.
I mean, don’t we already know? How much money was wasted on this? Next
thing we’ll be told that a study shows smoking is bad, drinking coffee
is bad and watching too much TV is bad, too. Perhaps wasting money on
unnecessary scientific studies is also bad?
Here’s what the European Commission did, bless ‘em. They asked their EU
Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks
(SCENIHR) whether loud music was potentially harmful given the
proliferation of mp3 players, and the
learned scientific opinion
is that “5-10% of personal music player listeners risk permanent
hearing loss, if they listen to a personal music player for more than
one hour per day each week at high volume settings for at least 5
years.”
And now that the European Commission has this information, they are
going to “examine with Member States and stakeholders, possible
measures that could be taken to better protect children and adolescents
from exposure to noise from personal music players and other similar
devices.”
Perhaps the European Commission should instead examine with Member
States and stakeholders, possible measures that could be taken to
better protect us all from exposure to noise from greedy investment
bankers and other similar financial types instead, given the credit
crunch. But no, ears are more important than bank accounts, right?
Well, of course they are, however... I didn't need a scientific study
to inform me of this. After all, ears aren't as easily replaceable as
fiat money.
EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, said, "I am concerned
that so many young people, in particular, who are frequent users of
personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may
be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably. The scientific
findings indicate a clear risk and we need to react rapidly.”
Kuneva continued: “Most importantly we need to raise consumer awareness
and put this information in the public domain. We need also to look
again at the controls in place, in the light of this scientific advice,
to make sure they are fully effective and keep pace with new
technology."
So, what are the current EU rules on noise levels in personal music
players, what will the EU do about it, and what is the laughably simple
and predictable advice for consumers?
Please read on to page 2.
