iPod diminuendo, if you please

Recently reported is that "iPod Noise Pollution Irks Those Nearby" -- that is, headphones set too loud can be disruptive to those who aren't plugged in. But the story's reporter made baffling decisions on what to report and what not to.

Don't get me wrong, it's a true and valid story: as a former teacher, I would often have to interrupt study hall to inform a student that he and his personal MP3 player were behaving in a very impersonal manner. But there's far more at stake than respect for other people.

I'm more concerned about the permanent damage these audiophiles are capable of inflicting on themselves. The Web site Hearing Loss Help suggests that the iPod Nano's maximum volume is the equivalent of 111 decibels -- a setting the human hear can endure for only 1 minute before sustaining hearing loss.  Given that consequence, why then do people subject themselves to this deafening volume for any period of time?  In a culture that debates the richness and fidelity of vinyl vs. CD or MP3 vs. AAC, what's to gain from playing your format of choice at a level where such detail, and your ability to discern such, is lost?

Perhaps wearing those uncomfortable earbuds are preparing their wearers for an adulthood wearing hearing aids. Yes, I'm stereotyping too-loud iPods (or what-have-yous) as a younger generation phenomenon. But I've practically never passed an adult on the street and caught a snippet of whatever he was hearing; disrespect for one and another's ears seems to come primarily the 14-25 crowd -- what some sources describe as "the MP3 generation".  (And if that isn't a name thought up by an old fogey, I don't know what is.  Not that I'm not one at heart; I've left several clubs and movie theaters after quickly determining the sound system was too loud for my comfort.  I'd rather be bored than deaf.)

Given all these reports and concerns, I'm mystified at how the original story could include this statement :

Our world, he said, has become freakishly quiet. "It's not noise pollution -- it's noise absence. And I find it almost more disturbing and upsetting than I did loud noise. It's sort of unnatural."

Is he kidding? In a world where we are bombarded every day by noise pollution, silence is both rare and golden. And given the Computerworld readership's vehement distaste for cellular discourtesy, I doubt I'm alone in that preference.

So please, do yourself and your neighbor a favor: turn off, tune out, and drop the volume.