First the walkman, now the iPod

Wired has an article about how there seems to be a rise in the number of people suffering from hearing loss these days. The article points to the use of iPods, cell phones, and other modern noise makers as the source of this spike. It seems that having those little ear buds in your ears (especially in a loud environment where you have to raise the volume to hear something) for hours on end can be bad for your ears.

Which isn’t really a surprise. I mean, its almost common sense. But it is easy to have the volume too loud without noticing it. When I leave the gym and I’m still listening to the the iPod I notice in a few minutes it seems to be turned up too loud (trying to drown out the noise and soundtrack at the gym).

But none of this is really a surprise, I remember years and years ago (yes, sadly I’m now old enough to say that) when the walkman first came out a lot of doctors were saying it is/will cause hearing damage. Fast forward a few years to when the discman came out and they were saying the same ting. Now the iPods are hear and the news hasn’t changed. I wonder if any one will hear the warnings this time.

Get it? Hear the warning? About deafness? Ok, it was a pretty lame joke…