Apple Adds Volume Control to iPod Software

Here's some good news you can share with your patients: Parents worried about the loud sounds their children are forcing into their ears via those ubiquitous ear buds may have some recourse if the ear buds are connected to the latest generation of iPod or iPod Nano.

Computer giant Apple Inc., the manufacturer of the iPod, recently announced that its latest iPod software update will include a feature that lets parents limit the maximum volume of the iPod. The update will allow parents to set a volume limit and then lock the setting with a code. The volume governor works with any headphone or similar accessory plugged into the headphone jack, as well as with the iPod Radio Remote.

The software update may be downloaded free from the Apple Web site, but it only works with fifth-generation iPods and iPod Nanos; the volume-limiting update will not work with iPods more than one year old.

Both teens and adults would rather turn down their headphones than use other methods, such as limiting listening time, to protect their hearing, according to information gathered in a recently released poll commissioned by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and conducted by Zogby International.

The telephone poll surveyed 301 high school subjects and 1,000 adults, finding that students were twice as likely as adults to play their personal music devices loudly. Adults, however, were more likely to use their personal music devices for longer periods of time.

Sixty-nine percent of teens said they would rather turn down the volume on their personal music devices than take other steps, such as decreasing their listening time, to prevent hearing loss; 50 percent of adults said they would rather reduce the volume than take other preventive steps.

Other disturbing information revealed in the poll: More than half of U.S. high school students reported at least one symptom of hearing loss, and 37 percent of adults reported one or more such symptoms.

Although it's heartening that Apple has made the volume-limiting software available, universal implementation of that software appears to have a long way to go. Nearly equal percentages of adults (48 percent) and teens (47 percent) surveyed said they were not concerned about hearing loss from their personal music devices.