Charity Advises Careful Use of Christmas Present

 

A leading charity is today advising all those who get an MP3 player from Santa this Christmas to use it responsibly.

 

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) is urging careful use of the device.

 

This comes in the wake of a UK-wide field study that reveals 66 per cent of users listen to their MP3 players at a volume louder than 85 decibels.

 

According to the World Health Organisation, this level can cause permanent damage to hearing over time.

 

The City of Bristol was one of eight cities in which the RNID carried out field research.

 

The results showed that of those tested a whopping 66 per cent were listening at more that 85 decibels and 22 per cent at more than 100 decibels.

 

Overall 54 per cent of those tested were risking permanent hearing damage.

 

RNID’s Director of External Affairs, Emma Harrison said: “Our research found people around the country are listening to their MP3 players at unbelievably high levels, with more than one in five blasting their ears with sound levels of 100 decibels or more – the equivalent of hearing a pneumatic drill 10 feet away! One MP3 user was listening at 118 decibels for one hour each day, a volume they shouldn’t be exposed to for more than 11 seconds per day.

 

The RNID, is urging music lovers to follow guidelines for safer listening which includes taking regular breaks from the music and not to crank up the volume in public places.