6月23日
When Technology Hurts
iPods and other handheld devices can wreak havoc on your health
Volume Control
If Ray Hull’s “artificial ear” is telling the truth, it’s time to invest in hearing-aid companies. Our iPods and other personal music players are destroying our hearing, he says.
But it’s our fault, because we turn the volume up and leave it up, and we insist on ear buds that concentrate the sound. Our home theater systems are a problem, too.
Unnoticeable damage
Hull is a professor at Wichita State University and a nationally recognized expert on noise and hearing loss. Lately, he’s been asking people to lend him their ear buds, without changing the volume setting, so that he can check sound levels with his “artificial ear” testing equipment. It measures how sound is received in a human ear.
He’s found sound levels as high as 120 decibels. That, he said, is the equivalent of standing 100 feet behind a Boeing 707 at full thrust for takeoff. At that setting, your hearing can be permanently damaged after 3.7 minutes-about the length of one song.
With ear buds, “there’s no escape from the intensity,” Hull said, so the inner ear “essentially anesthetizes itself.”
It’s the same effect you get when you walk into a concert or party and think, “Wow, this place is loud,” but 15 minutes later don’t notice the noise. The damage is still being done.
Listen carefully
To protect your hearing, Hull suggested turning your music player on full volume, then quickly backing it off about 30 percent. “That’s going to be much safer,” he said. Even at that level, give your ears a rest after an hour. For home theater systems, consider ear protection or turn down the volume.
And if the thought of needing hearing aids at a young age isn’t enough to deter you, Hull points out that loud noise can damage your balance as well.
“Sound can do terrible things,” he said.
Specialized Terms
Ear buds (n pl) 耳塞式耳机 electronic devices put in the ears in order to listen privately to the radio or recorded music
Decibel (n) 分贝 （声音响度单位）a unit for measuring the loudness of sound
Vocabulary Focus
Wreak (v) carry out (revenge or vengeance) on sb; inflict sth
Havoc (n) great confusion or disorder
Artificial (adj) made by people, often as a copy of something natural
Volume (n) the level of sound produced by and electronic device
Thrust (n) forward force produced by a propeller, jet engine, rocket, etc
Anesthetize (v) to make unable to feel pain
Back off (v) to reduce the speed, volume or intensity
Deter (v) make sb decide not to do sth
Discussion Question
Do you listen to music through headphones or ear buds? If so, using a scale of 1 to 10, how loudly do you set the volume? Do you think your pattern of listening is affecting your hearing? Why or why not?
Extra Exercise
1. Translate the following sentence into Chinese, ‘And if the thought of needing hearing aids at a young age isn’t enough to deter you, Hull points out that loud noise can damage your balance as well.’
2. According the audio, what’s Bill’s action when he was in the home theater system of his brother’s?
说明：
1.文本摘自《Advanced 彭蒙惠英语》，由chandler30亲自录入。
2.回帖内容为大家讨论类话题，如非个人隐私，请不要选中“只有楼主可见”，以便大家交流。
3.参考答案在二楼，回复可见。
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