Play it softer: iPod offers volume limits

Apple Computer Inc. is offering a way to limit the volume onits digital music players.

The move comes after several complaints and a lawsuit in the United States charged that iPods can cause hearing loss.

Hearing experts around the world have expressed concern about the long-term effects of listening to iPods, almost from the day they were first released with the marketing slogan "Play it Loud."

Researchers don't know yet what will happen long-term inside the eardrums of all those glassy-eyed teens with white buds in their ears.

But they don't advise waiting around for an epidemic of hearing loss until something is done.

The iPod can reproduce sound at more than 115 decibels, almost as loud as the noise a jet makes on takeoff. That's about 30 decibels higher thanis considered safe for the human ear.

Audiologist Dr. Robert Sweetow says it can be hard for people to judge how loud is too loud.

It was easier when he was a teenager, Sweetow told CBC Radio, because cranking up the volume distorted the sound on listening devices.

"They don't distort today. You can set the volume tremendously high before there's any distortion. And so people might have a tendency to do it," he said.

In February, a Louisiana man filed a class action suit against Apple Computer, saying the iPod maker failed to take adequate steps to prevent hearing loss.

The lawsuit demands Apple provide a way to limit the volume of the device to safe levels.

Last week, Apple introduced new software that allows the listener to pre-set a safe volume limit on iPod nano and 5th generation iPods. It also allows parents to lock in the setting for children.

Hearing experts say it's about time. In parts of Europe, volume caps on listening devices have been mandatory since 2002.

Sweetow says it's easy to set the volume level too high in noisy settings such as airplanes, even for people who know better.

"I find myself cranking up the volume. So that I can hear the music above the noise of the airplane," he says.

The San Francisco Chronicle's pop music critic Joel Selvin says it's a classic case of technology outpacing common sense.

"It's part of music fan appetite. Just like people are going to eat too much, people are going to listen to music louder than they need to hear it louder than is safe for them," he says.

Selvin welcomes Apple's move, but points out that owners of older iPod models have been left out.

"It would be nice if corporations took responsibility for the products that they manufacture and sell," he said.