Yup, iPods wreck your hearing

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Yet, the earbuds do not always fit snugly in the ear, but often allow background noise to seep in, which causes listeners to crank up the volume.

In turning up the volume to drown out background noise, however, people “don’t realize they may be causing some damage” to their hearing, Garstecki said.

Not happy! I commonly travel in crowded environments, and turn up the volume so I don't have to listen to all those other annoying people. And while I would only do this for about 1 hour a day, over a decade or so that would most likely impair my hearing to some degree.

I wish it werent so. Also, I wish those noise cancelling headphones didn't cost millions of dollars!! Grr.

There is a difference between the headphones causing ear damage, and the iPod causing ear damage. On its own, the iPod is just like a CD player. It simply plays music at the volume you tell it to. The headphones included with the iPod are pretty bad for your ears, however, causing the misunderstanding that the iPod itself is the source of the problem.

Earbud headphones are more damaging to your ears than other types because of the reason mentioned in the article, and because they force sound down your ear canal with more force than conventional headphones, maximizing the damage. Thus you should buy regular headphones or turn the volume way down.

Yes yes yes, of course I know that everything that has an earbud causes equal damage as well, it's just that so many people use ipods this title is better.

Plus, massive headphones look pretty weird. I like those ones that hang on your ears.

There are lots of headphones that are not "massive." Just don't use the ones that are pushed directly into your ears.