EU sets bar for music volume in MP3 players
MUMBAI: The European Commission has issued new volume standards for MP3 players on Monday to help prevent music lovers damaging their hearing.
The new standards will require iPods and other MP3 devices to add a default volume setting of around 80 decibels (dB) and a health warning to all new devices within the next two years.
The EC is also calling on standards bodies to change industrywide technical safety standards for mobile devices to include the 80 dB default setting. The current maximum volume level permitted for portable devices of 100 dB in the European Union remains unchanged, the commission said in a statement.
The EU scientific body had raised the alarm earlier this year warning that an estimated 10 per cent of music player owners in Europe (up to 25 million people) risk going deaf by listening to music at volumes of up to 120 dB - roughly the volume of a jet airliner taking off - for an hour or more each day on a regular basis.
"The evidence is that particularly young people, who are listening to music at high volumes sometimes for hours each week, have no idea they can be putting their hearing at risk," European Union Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva told a news conference.
The Commission plans to adopt the standards as the norm for new products after a 24-month consultation procedure with scientists, industry and consumers.
The industry said it supported the move but it warned the commission not to try to prescribe universal volume levels for all users. It urged the commission and standardization bodies to match the wishes of users with safety considerations when they set the default level.
Bridget Cosgrave, director general of the trade group Digital Europe, said music players are only one part of the problem of hearing loss, but the industry would cooperate in the European initiative, "to best serve consumer interests."
Digital Europe called for global harmonization of the standards to be applied in Europe. "Unharmonized requirements would undermine credibility and confuse users, potentially exposing themselves to inappropriate volume of noise," the trade group said in a statement.
