“After launching campaigns against the Big Gulp, ‘big’ salt and ‘big’ junk food, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is embarking on a new target,” CBS New York reports. “He wants to stop New Yorkers from going deaf, so he’s put in motion an attack on ear buds, CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reported Wednesday.”
“Now hear this … there’s a new enemy of the nanny state: people who choose to listen to loud music on their favorite devices,” CBS New York reports. “Bloomberg, who apparently has never met a health crusade he didn’t think worthy of embarking on, is launching a campaign to warn people about the risks of losing their hearing from blasting music on their headphones.”
“The initiative is aimed at the iPod generation, the people who were the first to put buds directly into their ears,” CBS New York reports. “The mayor’s campaign is being financed through a grant from the Fund for Public Health, the Department of Health’s fund raising arm.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The United States of America (and New York City, in particular, with its Nanny Bloomberg), where the greatest freedom is the one from personal responsibility.
Related articles:
Apple wins appeal over alleged iPod hearing loss – December 30, 2009
The useless iPod ‘potential for hearing loss’ lawsuit – February 05, 2006
Report: Apple iPod hearing loss lawsuit headed by Microsoft retained trial lawyer – February 02, 2006
iPod user sues Apple over hearing loss [UPDATED] – February 01, 2006
Doctors say London bombing victim’s hearing ‘saved by his Apple iPod earphones’ – July 11, 2005
Hearing Loss News: iPods can damage your ears – July 11, 2005
Idiotic.
Could it possibly be that the Mayor is experiencing hearing loss from riding in his helicopter or because he doesn’t want to hear the riff raff speaking? Possibly.
I have tinnitus from riding in helicopters in the military service and from diving very deep while SCUBA diving (for Uncle Sam).
Now I am paying for it. Can’t hear above the &$& take-off loud screeching in my ears. Nothing can help. Hearing aids don’t do squat. However, when I were my new EarBuds from Apple, I can hear the music fine.
What is really nerve wracking is that the sound only goes away when I sleep. Hearing loss is a real bummer.
If “nanny state” advisories work (which I doubt – look how many kids still play violent games on their computers and mobile devices with VERY loud sounds blasting away.) then a few people may be able to hear when they are older.
Most people think that any government is bad. However, the founding fathers thought is was a good idea. It isn’t about politics. It is about person responsibility for your health. A warning on a cigarette pack plus horrific pictures of the results may deter some from smoking. Not sure what Mr. Bloomberg’s minions will suggest but I can guarantee, I will not be smoking any time soon. 😉
Cheers
Check out Kevin Hogan tinnitus treatment
Thanks, I’ll look into.
All the best.
Not so idiotic, if you’re a politician. When the Mayor is unable (or unwilling) to fix REAL problems, you distract the constituency. Public K-12 education in NYC that leaves 80% of its “graduates” unable to read and write well enough to enter college (without additional remedial classes). Too hard! Dealing with residents left homeless after Sandy. Pass! Warning people about the dangers of using earbuds. Yeah, let’s do that one…
Judging from the comments here (some rather extensive), mission accomplished… populace sufficiently distracted from real problems.
Well said. Hearing loss sucks, and maybe something should be done to warn people but the NYC mayor has bigger fish to fry and other people can do this one.
Interesting that a man who cannot see and cannot think its obsessed with what we want to hear and want to ingest. Next obsession will be restricting what we want to own, where we want to gather, what we want to speak….all for the common good. Common good meaning what benefits politicians.
We are truly lost
Pink Elephants are not allowed to dance on the street on sundays when teefuckerslavemaster is not wavingk the flak.
… And there’s a law in New York state against driving with a conscious moose on your fender Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
What next? Comfortable couches? Because they encourage slothfulness?
What is wrong with a warning?
Because its a monumental waste of public (yours and mine) funds.
Until a couple months ago I owned a 2005 Ford GT. It would go 225mph, and zero to 60 in under 4 seconds. On the driver’s door window was a notice that it was known to the State of California that the vehicle contained and/or used known carcinogens.
What did it cost the State legislature to require that notice? More importantly, did it deter ANYONE from buying one of the most exciting vehicles ever built?
That law was passed to mollify a wacko constituency, and for no other reason.
1
The Fund for Public Health uses private donations. Rich New Yorkers can sprnd their money however they want. This IS still a free country.
Free? LOL. This country stopped being free decades ago. When the government can “force” you to purchase products they sell you ceased to be free.
If you take out the snarky language inserted by the CBS news, it simply states that “Bloomberg…is launching a campaign to warn people about the risks of losing their hearing from blasting music on their headphones.”
These are the same types of warnings that eventually helped to turn the tide on smoking (along with larger “sin” taxes) or help to curb drinking and driving. It has been proven time and time again that common sense isn’t enough. Think about it for a minute before jacking off with a snarky response about “nanny states” or similar nonsense.
Many people suffered from severe hearing impairments in previous decades due to job conditions – factories, military service, etc. – that exposed them to damaging sound levels. My own father was largely deaf as a result of military service. Hearing loss is not a great thing for the person that has it or his family and friends.
Now let’s consider our kids injecting sound directly into their auditory canals for a significant number of hours per day. We all know that kids tend to have an invulnerability mindset – take risks now and deal with the consequences later. When my kids were young I controlled the maximum volume on their iPods. When they got older, I released those controls, but took the time to warn them of the cumulative and permanent hearing damage caused by unsafe volume levels. That’s all good and well. But I also know that kids often tend to ignore the advice given by parents. So I am fine with a warning from someone else.
Do you really want hundreds of thousands of kids to experience permanent hearing loss from listening to music too loud over a period of years? If that doesn’t bother you, then let me put is in terms that you might understand – the medical costs associated with earbud-induced hearing loss could be massive and long term. Do you want to pay for it?
Yes, Bloomberg does take off on some interesting tangents sometimes, and some of his solutions are not very popular. And, yes, I think that a lot of the mandatory warnings on products are ridiculous, too. I don’t need to be instructed to avoid eating silica gel packets and lots of other products/chemicals. But don’t be too quick to condemn every government effort to improve human health and welfare. I suspect that it is likely that most people in the U.S. have benefited, directly or indirectly, from some type of government health initiative in the past.
And, as an example of someone who shot off a comment without reading the actual article, I present the following to greggthurman and others who complained about government waste.
“The mayor’s campaign is being financed through a grant from the Fund for Public Health, the Department of Health’s fund raising arm.”
The Fund for Public Health chose to back this initiative. It isn’t taxpayer money and is isn’t your money unless you chose to donate to the Fund for Public Health.
A thoughtful, reasoned post? On MDN? What is my entertainment channel coming to?
😆
Thank you… And we expect our leaders to have many people supporting them and for them to be able to multi-task. This probably only takes 5 minutes of his time and passed on to others to educate the masses. Tinnitus is a nasty health issue, one that is not communicated enough. It is hard to understand. I for one thank our leaders who try to educate the masses as early in their lives as possible.
It may also lead to businesses to innovate new technology that will do less damage to hearing while giving the sensation of loud music.
Oh, yeah. MDN, you can suck it too with your snarky take on this subject.
Bloomberg is a bigger idiot than Obama!
AND YOU”RE A BIGGER IDIOT THAN BLOOMBERG!
But a concert can still pummel you with 125dB for a couple hours. Great.
Not to mention Bloomberg’s private helicopter…
That is very true, scott, and those high levels are damaging as indicated by the post-concert ringing in your ears. For most people, however, a concert is only an occasional event. For many kids, earbuds are plugged in for a number of hours every day. Extended exposure, even at much lower-than-concert sound pressure levels, can be very damaging. But that damage tends to be very gradual. If you are an older adult, then you might liken it to the gradual loss of visual acuity from age 30 to 50, the difference being that the hearing loss is completely avoidable.
And IIRC, a simple lawnmower isn’t much different.
BTW, next time that you see a lawn service, do pay attention to see if the employees are wearing any hearing protection.
-hh
I wear hearing protection while mowing my lawn. And I switched to a battery-powered electric string trimmer as soon as I found one with decent performance.
Hey, it’s just a public service warning with “a campaign to warn people about the risks of losing their hearing from blasting music on their headphones”.
You can still crank em up and go deaf if you choose to.
We get the same stupid nannying messages about every year or so here in the UK, usually from the Daily Mail. I have tinnitus, not from wearing earbuds; they weren’t even invented then. Mine is from standing right in front of a speaker stack at a Phil Lynott’s Grand Slam gig.
Nowadays I wear earplugs. And full canalphones as well as the new EarPods, which reminds me, the old-style earbuds can be an issue; because there’s no seal, background noise means that wearers do tend to have the volume louder in order to hear over that background noise. Earphones that seal the ear canal need less volume, and even the new Apple EarPods do a reasonable job.
This could be my story. I too now mix with protection and ride motorcycles with either protection or canal phones. Tinnitus really really sucks. People need to know they can limit the maximum volume on their iPods.
I worked in power plants for 32 years where there is sustained 110dB and louder noise. My hobbies included rock concerts, NASCAR and NHRA (AA/FD) racing, and shooting sports. Although I always wore hearing protection at work, I have severe hearing loss in one ear and moderate loss in the other. I wear hearing aids these days. Ear buds? Yeah, I suppose that’s an issue, but really, in the grand scheme? Not so much.
It is better to allow everyone ruin their health because of ignorance, then have the State pay to take care of them in old age.
lol, that may be the most idiotic statement I have read months.
HZ, have you noticed the FICA amounts deducted every paycheck for all of your working life?…the state doesn’t pay to take care of you in your old age, YOU do, you stupid fucking asshat.
Well, yes if the State or Government doesn’t spend that money elsewhere before you ever see it. LIke with Social Security.
Politicians HATE to see a saved dollar sitting idle making interest waiting for it’s intended purpose far in the future. They want to tax it or spend it NOW. And that goes for their collected state money or MY personal savings account.
and do not forget that your employer has to match that amount.
It is more than matched! 60 something percent to the employee FICA withholding.
To Kingmel – read your damn constitution. What is the role of government relative to personal freedom. I challenge you to research Corporatism and National Socialism – brands of politics you seem to buy in to. Let people be responsible for themselves. If someone damages their hearing, great on them.
Wasn’t there similar campaign like decades ago about this. This does seem to be new. Also iOS devices have a feature to protect user from setting their volume to high called “Volume limit” For the minority rest of us we have common sense.
It’s long past time for BB to FOAD
It sounds like Bloomberg is looking to educate people about the dangers of hearing loss… Not banning headphones.
Troll much?
I avoided all that crazy stuff when I was a kid. I attribute the hearing loss I have in one ear to the Anustralian who insisted at yelling some LOUD MOUTH BLOODY YANK message at the top of his lungs into one of my ears. Fortunately I am my own health warning campaign. If you are concerned about your existence, avoid that paradise island with the putrid culture.
Bloomberg is simply trying to educate people with a PSA push. What, in the hell, is wrong with that? You act as if blasting high decibels of audio ISN’T causing hearing problems for a generation of young adults. You have a problem with awareness then? You would prefer we don’t educate people about health dangers? HIV then, maybe we shouldn’t educate anyone about that? Only the people who lack personal responsibility will get it, right? Fuck off.
NYC voted that idiot in, let ’em sleep in their own bed.
NYC street noise DB likely far exceed ear buds. Painful when a cop car or emergency vehicle goes by. If Bloomberg is truly concerned, he should shut down buses and ban cars. That way everyone can breath cleaner air and get plenty of exercise. Besides, everyone has hearing loss when they age. There is an app that puts out a tone. You move the slider until you no longer hear the tone and that is you approximate age. It works.
How about worrying about real issues instead of ridiculous ones.
Oh I don’t know like-why your city smells like urine, homeless people, theft, rape, drug abuse.
Of course you can’t ban 20 oz bottles or put up billboards and declare victory on those, you actually have to do something.
PS
All headphones already warn you about hearing loss on a little slip of paper that comes with them
You haven’t been to the NYC in the last 15 years or so, apparently. What you describe is New York of early 90s. Today, the crime rate of NYC is near the bottom of the list for cities greater than 200,000 people. While there may still be some pockets where you can find suspicious-looking people in the streets, most of it is safer than Fresno, California, or Boise, Idaho (check the list for 2011; both are above NYC based on crime rates).
If I want a big gulp I should be able to get one. Stupid POLITICIAN!
Now I agreed with his ruling on the tub sized sodas, esp. if you are trying to keep weight off your kids. An adult has the option to order 2 if they want more. Harder for a parent of a young child to try to take away the big soda of an overweight kid or one you’re trying to keep from becoming overweight and teach portion sizes. Easier to tell the kid: “You get one soda” and let him finish it than have to grab the huge one and take it away half finished (ruins the outing quickly). Even the small or regular sized sodas these days are far too big, they are the size the large ones used to be in the ’60’s and ’70’s. Everything is mega and super sized, even when you try to order a small. And they wonder why kids are obese? I often split a soda with the husband. Kids want their own.
At people that are so upset of bringing nanny state comments: if one does not realized that loud noises can ruin your hearing, then we really are helpless. What next? A warning not to touch electrical items with wet hands? Don’t touch a pot of boiling water? Plus Bloomberg did BANNED large drinks which does not put a ban on earbuds beyond thinking. Not against government warning or safety concerns but seems common sense is definitely out the door.
MDN, your take on this one topic is so very wrong. I believe that Apple should never have sold their earbuds. Period. A terrible and harmful design. Bloomberg is right on this.
Why?
Because Apple earbuds hardly restrict the ambient noise surrounding the listener, since they just ‘sit’ within the outer ear. And this is the danger. Rule of thumb: if you can hear someone else’s earbuds while they are using an iPod, iPhone, etc, then that person is inflicting on themselves lasting ear damage. It’s as simple and as sad as that. Let me give you an example:
On a NY subway or London Tube, the ambient noise can be as loud as 95-100 dB and so to listen to your iPod, etc you will have to turn up your earbuds WELL ABOVE that threshold. Sometimes to as much as 110-120 dB. This a dangerously loud level and will cause deafness over a relatively short period of time. Using earbuds in these circumstances can be as loud as hearing a gunshot going off.
So what is the answer? Apple should have produced proper noise isolating earbuds so people wouldn’t have to turn up their iPods, etc to deafening when in a noisy public place or such like.
Personally, I use Etymotic hf3 earbuds (but there are lots to choose from in the market). These earbuds cut down the ambient noise by up to 42dB, thus allowing the listener to hear their music at a safe level rather than compete with noisy transport systems and the like.
Sadly, the younger generations growing up today will have many within them who will have permanent and possibly severe hearing impairment.
And that’s very sad. And avoidable.
Mayor Dungberg should mind his own damn business! This is total B.S. I guess we should call him The Dictator of New York City! This total STUPIDITY!!!!!
Reading your comments leads me to believe you are either a 12 year old or the Geico caveman.
Your lack of intellect is astounding, what is wrong with an INFORMATION campaign to EDUCATE people about the dangers of ear buds and hearing loss?
You are free to remain ignorant I guess, wouldn’t want to dictate any sense to you now would we???
Whatever happened to “common sense.” If Bloomberg is concerned about noise issues then he should be doing something about the noise levels relevant to riding the subways. I wouldn’t want him to be my nanny.
I believe Bloomberg had already tried that some years ago (launching some initiative to reduce the deafening noise levels on subway platforms, especially on some lines with older trains, like 1/2/3 lines). MTA had back then committed to buying rolling stock that makes less noise when passing through stations, and it is true. Over the past ten years, the new rolling stock seems much quieter than the old one, and Bloomberg’s initiative seems to be working. You can easily hear the difference: go to any platform on No. 1 line and listen to the express No. 3 train passing. It is probably close to 120dB (if not more). Then go to the 6 platform and listen to the No. 4 train passing: much quieter. These two train lines are both from IRT, so same type and size of rolling stock, one old, the other new.
So New York, how well is your babysitter’s iniatives going, are fat people drinking less soda? Or eating less French fries? People will do what they want, not what you tell them. People have to make their own decisions whether to eat healthy and exercise and nothing you do will force them to do that unless they want to embrace it.
Actually, yes they are eating less. You’d be surprised; after the ban was implemented, some limited research has already shown results, especially among children. The amount of sugary soda they consume has dropped by a noticeable percentage, right around the time the ban was implemented. You see, while people tend to know that sugar is bad for them, when someone offers them to “supersize it for just extra 50 cents”, they don’t think about the sugar; they just perceive a great deal and go for the deal. Of course, once they get that whole liter of soda in a cup, they end up finishing the whole thing in less than an hour. When the “supersize” option isn’t available, they’ll take whatever is, they’ll finish that one, and for them, there would be absolutely no difference, except that they would have ingested far less sugar.
For the very few who have vocally objected to this “nanny state” regulation, they still can buy two cups and consume their liter of soda if they so desire. Obviously, the restriction seems to work beautifully precisely on the demographic for which it is intended: children and uneducated.
Tempest, meet Teapot. Teapot, Tempest.
Must be a slow news day on teh interwebs…
I’m half deaf (genetic, since birth) and need increased volume from my earbuds. I’m functional enough that I was able to study music in college and continue to play. A public-awareness campaign is okay, but don’t legislate maximum volume levels or make the hearing-impaired into pariahs; we need the volume louder than most to be able to hear what’s going on.