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MP3 players and hearing loss Updated: 15 Mar 2010

Headphones versus earbuds

Most MP3 players have headphones that sit directly in the ear (earbuds). There's debate about whether these are more harmful than the older-style headphones which sit over the ear.

But, Boston Children's Hospital audiologist Brian Fligor says the types of headphones are important: "The closer to the eardrum, the higher the sound levels the system is capable of producing," he told Rolling Stone magazine.

Fligor found that on average a person can listen to over-the-ear headphones with a player set at level six (out of ten) for an hour a day. For most earbuds the acceptable limit was half that for some models - 30 minutes a day at the same level.

Sydney's National Acoustic Laboratories research engineer Warwick Williams agrees earbuds could be more dangerous because they sit directly in the ear, and so there's the potential for greater penetration of noise directly into the ear. But he points out earbuds also have the potential to be less damaging - you might keep the volume lower because earbuds are more effective at blocking out the sound around you.

Auckland University audiologist Dr Grant Searchfield says the new technology throws into doubt an old rule of thumb. "We used to say if you were an arms length away from a person and you could hear the sound coming from the earphones - that was potentially damaging. Many MP3 player earphones are now sealed in the ear, so sound is less likely to leak out and be heard by someone else. Because of this parents may be completely unaware of how loud their children's music is."