• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Contact | 360-778-1266

Center for Hearing Loss Help

Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Reference
    • Glossary of Ear Terms
    • Drug Pronunciation Guide
    • Looping Information
    • “Learn About Hearing”
    • Useful Links
  • Museum
  • Blog
  • Shop
    • Alerting Devices
    • Assistive Listening Devices
    • Books
    • Loop Systems
    • Speechreading CDs
    • Telephones, amplified
    • Visor Cards

How Loud Is Too Loud on Your iPod Nano?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

One person asked:

How concerned should we be about MP3 and other personal music players? What should we define as “too much or too loud?”

Loud sounds, whether music or noise, damage our ears. There are two factors, the volume of the sound, and the length of time you expose your ears to this volume of sound.

You can combine these two factors and express them as a “Noise Dose” or “Time-Weighted Average” (TWA). I gave these figures in my March 17, 2006 article “What Are the Safe Levels for Louder Sounds?”

The above time-weighted averages are for industrial noise. However, since music has different characteristics than industrial noise, these industrial time-weighted averages do not reflect the safe time-weighted averages when applied to listening to music through various MP3 devices such as the iPod.

Brian Fligor, D.Sc.has measured the volume of sound the iPod Nano actually pumps into our ears. Based on his studies, the following table reveals the safe time-weighted averages for listening to the iPod Nano at various volumes.

Percent of
Maximum
Volume
Equivalent
Volume
dB
Time to Reach
Safe Daily Dose
(85 dB TVA)
     
<=40% <=73 unlimited
50% 81 8 hours
60% 87 4.5 hours
70% 92 1.6 hours
80% 98 23 minutes
90% 106 4 minutes
100% 111 1 minute

If you do not want to damage your hearing, you would do well to heed the above safe times. As you can see, if you keep the volume below 50% you can very likely safely listen to your iPod virtually all the time.

In contrast, if you insist on listening to it full volume, just one minute will give your ears their safe daily dose. If you exceed this time, expect hearing problems in your future because that is almost certainly what will happen.

(The information in this article came from the article “Portable Music and Its Risk to Hearing Health” by Dr. Brian Fligor in Hearing Review.

Primary Sidebar

Hearing Loss Research & Resources

Free Visor Cards

Download your free Visor Cards for hard of hearing or deaf people here.

Loop Systems

Loop your home or meeting room. Discover how you can hear wonderfully clear sound again when listening to the TV/radio, etc, or when listening to a speaker at a meeting.

Loop systems are one of the best-kept secrets in town. To learn more about Loop Systems and what they can do for you, click here.

Take Control of Your Tinnitus—Here’s How

If your ears ring, buzz, chirp, hiss, click or roar, you know just how annoying tinnitus can be. You do not have to put up with this racket for the rest of your life. This book teaches you many things you can do to help bring your tinnitus under your control so it no longer bothers you.

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Sounds Now Too Loud for You?

Hypersensitive to Sound front coverIf some (or all) normal sounds seem so loud they “blow the top of your head off”, or make you wince or jump, or cause you headaches or ear pain, or affect your balance, or result in fear or annoyance of sounds so you feel you have to avoid these sounds, this book is for you!

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Hearing Phantom Sounds?

When hard of hearing people begin hearing phantom voices or music, they immediately worry they are going crazy. It never crosses their minds that they are sane and are just experiencing Musical Ear syndrome.

To learn more about the strange phantom sounds of Musical Ear syndrome and what you can do about them, click here to read a comprehensive article about Musical Ear Syndrome.

Or get the book—Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Glossary Navigation

  • Full List of Glossary Terms
  • A to Z Index

Footer

Center for Hearing Loss Help

Neil G. Bauman, Ph.D.

1013 Ridgeway Drive, Lynden,
WA 98264-1057 USA

Email: neil@hearinglosshelp.com

Phone: 360-778-1266 (M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PM PST)

© 2025 Center for Hearing Loss Help – Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life [which also includes perfect hearing] through Jesus Christ our Lord." [Romans 6:23]

"But know this, in the last days perilous times will come" [2 Timothy 3:1]. "For there will be famines, pestilences, and [severe] earthquakes in various places" [Matthew 24:7], "distress of nations, the sea and the waves roaring"—tsunamis, hurricanes—Luke 21:25, but this is good news if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, for "when these things begin to happen, lift up your heads [and rejoice] because your redemption draws near" [Luke 21:28].