Do MP3s ruin your hearing? (1 Viewer)

[John Thomas]

A man in Germany did some research on this, detailing how he thinks that listening to MP3s and other lossy audio storage formats can ruin your hearing.

Here's the article:
Link

He states that listening to compressed music over a long period might destroy some of the brain's 'compensation circuits' responsible for filtering our hearing, leading to tinnitus and other hearing ailments.

Interesting stuff at least.

 

[Don Black]

What?

 

[Carl Johnson]

If listening to compressed music damages hearing then watching compressed video will make you go blind.

 

[Travis Olson]

What a bunch of BS. :rolleyes

 

[Todd Hochard]

I can say that listening to that shrill, airy tone that accompanies most overcompressed music gives me a headache in short order.

 

[Philip_G]

in before someone sues sirius radio for a quick buck sue to alleged hearing loss

 

[Jed M]

Sounds like this project was funded by the RIAA.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Darn! Jed beat me to it.

 

[Felipe S]

Yes... yes it does.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Does watching VHS tapes ruin your eyesight?

 

[Max Leung]

So, will watching pictures and videos of scantily clad pretty men and pretty women make everyone look beautiful? Or will it cause the opposite effect?

Blah.

By that logic, Reader's Digest damages peoples' ability to comprehend unabridged works of literature. Oh wait, that might be true...

If listening to compressed audio damages your hearing, then the cacophony of a Chinese restaurant during Chinese New Year's should make you deaf. All those conversations compressed into a small space, y'know?

The author of the article says mp3 playback exacerbates his tinnitus. I suggest that he'd have the same result if he listened to his scratchy old phono records.

The article rambles on about the price of CDs as well. It didn't make much sense to me. He didn't cite any links or research on tinnitus and what causes it. His analysis is incomplete, and he has no reproduceable data that illustrate the effect.

In other words, what a load of crap.

 

[RobertR]

It's unscientific horse hockey, similar to the nonsensical claims that all digital audio causes "stress" in the human body.

 

[Tony-B]

That is so funny!! This is my BS article of the day!!!

 

[John Thomas]

Suckers.