The Consumer Council has renewed its warning to frequent users of personal music players, particularly young people, of the adverse effects of excessive exposure to high sound level.
The warning was contained in its latest test report on MP3 players, PMP and mobile phones with a music playing function.
Out of the 27 test models, 8 were found to reach a maximum listening level of over 100 dB and/or the output voltage was too high. One was measured with a maximum of 119 dB. In addition, most of them were not provided with volume limiting function and their scores on hearing protection were relatively poor.
But the problem may finally come to an end as the European Union has just proposed for new safety standards to be drawn up to restrict the volume levels of portable music players.
On the agenda is the requirement that manufacturers, in future, set the default settings of volume limit on their products at such level as 80 or 89 dB.
Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and duration. Therefore at 80 dB, exposure should be limited to 40 hours per week. At 89 dB, exposure should not exceed 5 hours per week.
Earlier on, a report of the EU's Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) warned that 5 to 10% users of portable music players listening for hours at high volume control setting for years risk permanent hearing loss.
Given the widespread use of personal music players and the surge in the number of young people, children and adolescents in particular, exposed to such noise, the problem is one of increasing concern. It can take years for the hearing damage to show and then it is simply too late.
Besides hearing protection, the test assessed the models on audio quality, battery performance, convenience of use, portability, durability, versatility, photo and video functions.
Among other findings, the headphones of most samples were judged to be unable to deliver top quality of sound. Users can consider replacing the headphone with a better one to boost music quality.
Battery performance was notably improved. Some models were able to deliver 38 to 66 hours of music from fully charged batteries. Most built-in batteries could be charged within 3 hours and one could even provide 3-minute quick charge for those in a super hurry.
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