Headphone News

Anyone who's gone to a concert has seen those one or two of these people: as soon as the music starts, they grimace and put their hands over their ears. They then make their way to the back, maybe yelling, 'Wow, this sure is loud,' to people nearby.

Sometimes, this aural hypochondriac is your friend, in which case you know the next day you'll get a call saying, 'Yeah, so, I think that show you took me to permanently ruined my hearing.' Etymotics Research has apparently had a few buddies like this, prompting them to develop a meter which can estimate potential impact on hearing. "The Etymotic Personal Noise Dosimeter takes the guesswork out of protecting your hearing," said Mead Killion, Ph.D., founder and president of Etymotic Research. "Noise-induced hearing loss is preventable, but most people do not know how long they can listen to loud sounds without risking damage to their hearing."

The dosimeter evaluates sound over a period of time, since an individual’s daily noise dose is determined by both the intensity of the sound and the duration of the sound exposure. Two modes are available: Normal evaluates sound over a period of 16 hours, alerting users when they should use hearing protection, and Quick Check mode evaluates sound for two minutes and calculates the estimated dose per hour.

Therefore, if you're trying to get a few friends into a music scene and have $99 lying around, you should head on over to Etymotic’s website.