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Being able to hear other sounds
Ken Wright’s invention, AirDrives, which went on the market in 2007, come in different sizes for children and for adults. The earphones sit in front of the ear canals, leaving the ears open, “unlike other earphones and earbuds that cover your ears,” he said. AirDrives retail for $80, for adults, and $50 for a children's pair.
The earphones create “the kind of sound you’d get from a home or car stereo, where you hear your sound coming from around you, versus from inside your head,” said the San Diego man.
“I wanted to develop something for my daughter that wouldn’t hurt her ears, and I also wanted to develop something for me that was a better listening experience.”
And, there’s a third aspect Wright had in mind when he designed AirDrives: making it possible for the listener to still hear what’s going on around him, especially while out in traffic or at the office.
With AirDrives, he said, “you can listen and interact socially with others, as well as remain aware of your surroundings.”
That has become an issue. In New York last year, a state senator unsuccessfully sought legislation that would have made it illegal to cross the street while using devices such as iPods and cell phones. He was spurred to do so, he said, after three pedestrians listening to their electronic devices were struck and killed.
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iHearSafe The volume-limiting earbuds by iHearSafe ($20) were developed by a New Hampshire mom tired of telling her kids to turn down their iPods. |
Two years ago, USA Track and Field banned runners from carrying digital music players during its marathons.
“When somebody says, ‘Hey, get out of my way,’ or there’s an announcement, you can’t hear those words” with regular earbuds, said Wright.
Grimes, of the American Academy of Audiology, applauds the product efforts to provide safer and saner sound.
The academy, she said, is concerned enough about the impacts of what is called NIHL, noise-induced hearing loss, that it launched a Web site, TurnItToTheLeft.com, earlier this year to offer education and guidance to youths, parents and teachers.
“What we’re talking about with personal music devices is that gradual chipping away at the cochlear hair cells, the little sensory cells in the inner ear, and that’s where the damage gets done when there’s exposure to loud noises,” she said.
“What we don’t know for each person is what their individual risk is, until after the damage has been done. Some people are more susceptible to NIHL than others, and we don’t know all the factors that go into that susceptibility.”
Audio common sense
There are some general guidelines for audio common sense, she said.
“If you’re going to listen to a personal music device, take out your earphones for five minutes every half hour, and give your ears a rest. That gives your cochlear hair cells time to get back to normal, to rejuvenate themselves. Break up the listening.”
Also, she said, “if a parent can hear their child’s music leaking out of the earphones from 3 feet away, it’s probably too loud.”
It’s not just rock ‘n roll that needs volume control.
“The ear doesn’t care what the noise is, if it’s intense enough and if the exposure is for a long enough duration,” Grimes said.
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“There are studies that show symphony musicians who play Beethoven have NIHL. So, the ear doesn’t care. It’s all about how intense is the sound in the eardrum, and for how long a period of time is the ear exposed” to that sound.
“One of the difficult things about NIHL is that it’s really insidious, it comes on gradually, painlessly, and it’s often not detectable in the early stages,” she said. “And by the time it’s detectable, it’s a problem. So, it’s really better to work very hard to prevent it in the first place.”
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