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Klipsch, Bloomberg and Earbuds


thebes

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Ain't nobody here doesn't like to crank it bit. After all, why do we own speakers capable of taking down passing airliners.

However, as far as I'm concerned NYCity's mayor, Grandma Bloomberg has a very valid point. Earbuds,as typically deployed by far too many young people are wasting their ear canals. In a place like New York great gobs of people employ earbuds as some sort of defense against having to actually react with the vibrant city they so confess to loving. Earbuds. You can tune out the sound, of the city ignore the masses, by turning up the volume.

Nothing new, here, after all similar things were said when the Walkman came out. However, the reports about Bloomberg's latest crusade indicate that some of the earbuds are capable of putting out 120bd of sound.

Good lord, talk about putting a loaded pistol in your ear.

So I head on over to the Klipsch website to check out their offerings. Every single earbud they sell is rated to 110bd. Not 120, buy hey, 110bd for something you smoosh down your ear canal.

I know what you are going to say, "individual responsibility", "they are just competing in the marketplace" etc.

Nonsense, they also sell earphones. They also are supposedly marketing geniuses, so why not use their genius and take a stand.

Discontinue earbuds. Use their marketing savvy to make earphones cool. Save a few ears until they are mature enough to buy real speakers

Come on Klipsch Corp. Time to step up.

Well your at it, make a nice contributin to Galludet University.

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I am amazed at the volumes some people listen to their Ipods at, they are certainly doing damage to thteir hearing. However you can't legislate stupidity. Perhaps a public service effort to inform folks of the potential damage to their hearing would be helpful. I can't see the NYPD walking around with sound meters ticketing people for crankning their tunes.

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I am amazed at the volumes some people listen to their Ipods at, they are certainly doing damage to thteir hearing. However you can't legislate stupidity. Perhaps a public service effort to inform folks of the potential damage to their hearing would be helpful. I can't see the NYPD walking around with sound meters ticketing people for crankning their tunes.

OK, so there is no confusion, Bloomberg is initiating a $1/4 million public awareness campaign. There are no plans to sent out the earbud police. And yes you can legislate stupidity. There are hundreds of examples where laws limit the human propensity towards stupidly. Good example, child car seats. You don't use one you get a ticket and your kid doesn't end up flying a block down the street, should you hit a light pole.

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Perhaps the makers of MP3 players should put in output limiters? There are also volume limit restrictions parents can set in iPods.

Good ideas, that would have to be applied across all the various brands of ipod -style players. Why not step up and limit Klipsch earbuds to say 95db or 100bd? 110db rated buds are just insanely irresponsible. Lead the pack. Get whatever trade association audio builders belong to, to adopt a standard. Standards are employed across all industries to self-regulate.

To me the issue is the earbud's intrinsic design results in an ability to so, so easily do serious damage to peoples hearing.

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Using the subways, I routinely am subject to >100 db of high pitch noise coming from the subways. That is why I choose in ear buds versus headphones. Also I find it more comfortable in crowded areas. I think the campaign is fine to tell people the dangers. But then again take a look at Maron''s response to common sense.

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Perhaps the makers of MP3 players should put in output limiters? There are also volume limit restrictions parents can set in iPods.

Good ideas, that would have to be applied across all the various brands of ipod -style players. Why not step up and limit Klipsch earbuds to say 95db or 100bd? 110db rated buds are just insanely irresponsible. Lead the pack. Get whatever trade association audio builders belong to, to adopt a standard. Standards are employed across all industries to self-regulate.

To me the issue is the earbud's intrinsic design results in an ability to so, so easily do serious damage to peoples hearing.

I would adamantly oppose any legislation to limit output SPL in headphones. That's recipe to destroy safe dynamics.

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Perhaps the makers of MP3 players should put in output limiters? There are also volume limit restrictions parents can set in iPods.

Good ideas, that would have to be applied across all the various brands of ipod -style players. Why not step up and limit Klipsch earbuds to say 95db or 100bd? 110db rated buds are just insanely irresponsible. Lead the pack. Get whatever trade association audio builders belong to, to adopt a standard. Standards are employed across all industries to self-regulate.

To me the issue is the earbud's intrinsic design results in an ability to so, so easily do serious damage to peoples hearing.


I would adamantly oppose any legislation to limit output SPL in headphones. That's recipe to destroy safe dynamics.

Hey Doc, given the compression employed in far to much current music and the fact we are talking about MP3's, not real recorded music, hasn't the damage already been done? The dynamics, transients,spl, what have you, are already down the toilet. You're already getting slammed to death, so why not try to save a few of those little ear canal hair thingies for another day?

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