What is a safe volume level on an iPod to avoid ear damage?

Answer 1

Answer
It's best to follow these general rules while listening to your iPod:

• Keeping the volume below 60%* is the safest way to go.
  
• Avoid listening for more than four hours at 70% volume. It is not recommended that you listen any louder than 70%.
• Listening to 80% volume for more than an hour per day will be harmful to your ears over time.
• That time limit shrinks to 10 minutes at 90% volume.
• Listening at full volume for more than three minutes per day will seriously damage your ears over time.

It's important to know that these rules apply to the typical adult. Young ears may sustain damage more easily. In addition, your own ears' "toughness" may be more or less than typical. However, it's impossible to know how resistant your ears are until irreversible hearing loss starts to become noticeable. It's best to take precautions in order to avoid hearing loss and be careful not to turn the dial any louder than it needs to be.

Also, listeners tend to raise the volume to dangerous levels when they are in loud and noisy environments. Try to avoid these environments while listening to your iPod. You may also want to consider purchasing noise-canceling or noise-isolating earphones. When used properly, these earphones have been shown to prevent listeners from raising the volume to dangerous levels on order to block out outside noise.

*Note that these volume levels apply specifically to the Apple iPod brand of portable music players. Other music players may operate at different volume levels.