Todays Newspaper Article On Earbuds

[Neub Detat 0]

It's on the 3rd page of Straits Times I think.

 

What are your thoughts on it? IMO it would have been a lot more helpful if they actually properly classified the different types of headphones and earphones.

Not to mention that there are so many variables to the whole equation.

 

What about IEMs? The article states that Earbuds go close to the cochlea but what abt IEMs that go down into the canal itself, but since they block out external noises, you will listen to it on a lower volume, how does that factor in? The difference between closed back and open headphones? How about the importance of impedance in regards to volume? How about an article on how our everyday working environment is destroying our hearing as well?

 

Seriously the article is so ambiguous. I feel like writing to Straits Times asking for further explanation since the write-up offers no real scientific proof.

[lekguan 0]

The way they write, they seem to suggest a few things:

 

1) (to a subtle degree) Earphones spoil your hearing more easily than headphones/speakers, even at the same SPL.

 

2) Throw away your iPod.

 

3) Jukebox manufacturers, STOP manufacturing players with powerful headphone outputs.

 

They have failed to address many issues IMO. It's all up to the user. It's just that earphones are a cheap solution to obtain high SPLs. Imagine a $10 speaker that can reach that kind of SPL. Then they would have advised people not to listen to speakers anymore too. I mean what the heck! They should have advised people to note down their listening volume at noisy areas and check that its not too loud when in a quiet environment, or to set to a suitably loud volume before leaving a quiet environment and not adjust the volume anymore after leaving tt place. I guess that would have made more sense. Educate people what to take note of if they want to protect their hearing. Whether we want to take it or not its not up to us. They should not have made such hard and fast rules. 30 mins a day on the iPod. Hefty investment with low returns.

 

And yeah, probably as Neub Detat mentioned earphones w.r.t. output vol. They never mentioned about input sensitivity of earphones at all. They were too general. So general that it didn't make a sound advice. Imagine someone with an insensitive earphone listening at the same 60% as someone with the sensitive earphone. The person with the insensitive earphone would want to crank it up and feel so guilty after that

 

They should have recommended people to use earphones/headphones with isolation too But then again there are people who crank it up bad with isolating earphones in quiet environments too. There's no end to it. The responsibility lies with ourselves, afterall, to protect our own hearing.

[neutralzz 0]

i m a slight cynic some times.

 

because most of the time i realise the SBS bus or the mrt is noisier than my earbuds at my regular listening volume. had to crank the vol up in the past.

[afbug 0]

Etymotic Research think his article is not true.

 

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showpost.ph...85&postcount=13

[Neub Detat 0]

Still that's not gonna stop 1 million Singaporean mothers from finding a new reason to nag at their kids, like mine did this morning.

Actually listening to headphones and earphones has increased my hearing ability, cos now I have the tendency to try to listen to everything