EU Recommends Noise Limits On MP3 Players 360
A story at the BBC notes increasing pressure from the European Commission to set standards that would limit the maximum volume on portable MP3 players. Their reasoning is that it would protect users from damaging their hearing after listening to loud music for extended periods. Quoting:
"This follows a report last year warning that up to 10m people in the EU face permanent hearing loss from listening to loud music for prolonged periods. EU experts want the default maximum setting to be 85 decibels, according to BBC One's Politics Show. Users would be able to override this setting to reach a top limit of 100 decibels. ... Some personal players examined in testing facilities have been found to reach 120 decibels, the equivalent of a jet taking off, and no safety default level currently applies, although manufacturers are obliged to print information about risks in the instruction manuals. Modern personal players are seen as more dangerous than stationary players or old-fashioned cassette or disk players because they can store hours of music and are often listened to while in traffic with the volume very high to drown out outside noise."
Re:Wrong approach entirely (Score:3, Informative)
I'm having trouble deciding if this is a bad joke or you are just raving mad.
Re:say what? (Score:4, Informative)
What about the headphones (Score:4, Informative)
The power delivered to the ears depends on the headphones. I don't know how they plan to do anything meaningful here, they would have to set the limit based on the most "powerful" headphones, which means that the lesser ones will be inaudible. I already had that kind of problem on Nokia phones, you can't hear for shit with them, the max volume is ridiculously low, esp. with their utterly failtastic brand headphones with their annoying 2.5mm jacks. I'm certain nobody will harm their eardrums with that, but I'm equally certain that I'm not buying a Nokia ever again to listen to podcasts.
And BTW, it's not noise moronmitter, it's power. You can have lots of noise in very low power.
Re:Do what we say, not what we do (Score:5, Informative)
Known to have been used at the G20, probably other events as well.
Re:And how will this work? (Score:3, Informative)
Well even if they do that, and then have it process for output levels, that doesn't solve the other half, the efficiency part. Different designs produce more or less sound given the same amount of power. Depends on the kind of drivers, the enclosure, how close to your ear, etc. As I said 580s have an efficiency of 95dB/mw meaning for one milliwatt of power (which in their case requires 0.5 volts) they produce 95dBSPL of sound at your ear. The UE 5 Pros have a 119dB/mw efficiency, meaning with the same one milliwatt of power (in their case needing only .14 volts) they produce 119dBSPL at your ear. So, even if you control it such that power is what is capped, you accomplish nothing. Set the 85dB cap for the UE's and the Sennheisers are going to be 61dB, which is about normal conversation level which would be hard to hear since they are open back. Set the 85dB for the Sennheisers, and the UE's will still go to 109dB, plenty to cause problem over long times.
This also doesn't even get in to the problem of the level of the music itself. While popular music tends to be extremely compressed and limited such that it maintains 0dBFS most of the time, that isn't the case for all music. If you have music that is -20dBFS average, you need to turn the volume dial up 20dB to get the same volume.
So all you'll end up doing is screwing over people who have quiet headphones and like ot listen to classical or jazz, and create a market for extremely loud, efficient headphones.
Re:Wish they would regulate TV channels first. (Score:5, Informative)
So why do you still watch TV in the first place? Go to eztv.it, or btjunkie.org, and let the stuff download on your home server. Fire-and-forget style. I even download whole shows. All series.
It’s like a Tivo. Only that it’s free, and people manually removed the ads for you. :)
I still use a remote and a big screen. Just that they are attached to my PC. (And that the screen is 9 feet wide and the sound is 5.1 :)
Yes, if the opamp can drive them (Score:2, Informative)
A typical op-amp can provide an output current of some 10 mA. Which is fine for driving a 32 Ohm headphone at low voltages. If you switch to lower impedances (4 or 8 ohm?), the music player will need a more beefy opamp.
Re:Better Headphones (Score:5, Informative)
People have been killed by trains because their walkmans (yes - it was happening even back then) were too loud. That's why some places have banned the use of ANY earphone-equipped music player when driving a car or riding a bicycle. And when you're driving, hearing is an important part of your awareness - not only for that "slightly odd mechanical noise" that might signal trouble down the road, but also such things as the noise-generating grooves along the right shoulder to warn people that they're straying off the road (or to wake them up if they're drowsing off), and the sound of the motorcycle or car that just pulled into your blind spot.
Re:But how to do that? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Yes, if the opamp can drive them (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Rock On, Dudes! (Score:3, Informative)
Personally, I wouldn't mind having an MP3 player that warn me with a "please override" message before I accidentally expose myself to unhealthy sound levels. When the ambient noise is loud, it's often very hard to notice how high you've cranked the volume.
The iPod comes with a default sound limiter that you can arbitrarily change/set/overide at will and never be asked about again. Would something like that work for you?
Re:Dear government (Score:3, Informative)
Except no one know keeps a DB meter around them at all times. I love loud music. I'd love to know that cranking my music player to the max isn't killing my ear drums.
85db sounds pretty reasonably loud AND yet still safe
Re:But how to do that? (Score:3, Informative)
The free earplugs they hand out at concerts suck, get something a bit better instead, you might like it. Midrange plugs start at $30 to $50 per set, individually fit ones run $200 to $350 or so. Multi-use and intended for DJs, technicians or orchestra members. If you can't find a store near you, Jrenum and Elacin are two brands that might get you started.
Good luck.