Turning Down the Volume

Some people can’t be without their music. Some runners use ear buds and tune out the noise as they do their miles (or kilometres). This is simply dangerous. Nevertheless, people listen to their music while on a bike, while in their car, while at their work desk… you might be reading this while using ear buds.

All the music can be damaging by compromising people’s safety and damaging their hearing. In Europe, there are proposed regulations:

“The European Commission issued new volume standards for MP3 players on Monday to help prevent music lovers damaging their hearing.

The new standards will require small technical changes to iPods and other MP3 devices so they play at a safe volume by default. There will also be a health warning so consumers who choose to override the default settings know the risks.”

link: EU seeks to turn down MP3s music player volumes

There will be those who will object to more regulatory standards and believe that such things as loudness settings should be an individual choice. It has never been easy to legislate common sense.

Catherine Forsythe