A test conducted by UCF-Que-Choisir on ten headphones from major brands in the audio world reveals that four are very bad for hearing.
In the midst of Christmas shopping, be careful if you choose to offer headphones, more precisely headphones for listening to television. We rarely (if ever) look at the number of decibels of these helmet models. Especially when it comes to recognized brands in the audio world. This is wrong, demonstrates a new test conducted by UFC-Que-Choisir. “Helmets are usually limited to 100 dB and must warn the user as soon as the threshold of 85 dB is reached”recalls the organization which decided to contact the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) to clarify the “fuzzy” regulation of TV headsets.
During its test, theUFC-Que-Choisir analyzed the volume of 10 helmets major brands in the audio world including Sony And Sennheiser and hearing specialists like General Terms and Conditions And Amplicomms. Verdict: “4 models made it possible to reach a volume so high that it became dangerous for our ears“. It’s about :
- of the CGV Dolfin Premium L headset (111 dB)
- of Geemarc CL7500 Opti headphones (113 dB)
- of Amplicomms TV2500 headphones (115 dB)
- of Humantechnik Sonumaxx2.4 headphones (116 dB)
Every time the level rises by 10 dB, you hear twice as loud
Some manufacturers, contacted by UFC-Que-Choisir, justified that the headsets were aimed at hearing-impaired people and that they could thus afford to increase their decibels. Gold, “if the manufacturer claims a headset intended for the hearing impaired, the device becomes a medical device in the eyes of the law, with the related constraints. Only certain professionals would have the right to distribute it, no more free sales.” reacted Brice Jantzem, president of the National Union of Hearing Aid Specialists (SNA), to the UFC.
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Noise is measured on a scale from 0 to 130 decibels. 0 dB representing the threshold of audibility and 130 the threshold of pain. There most everyday sounds are between 30 and 90 dB. Every time the level rises by 10 dB, you hear twice as loud. As a result, a sound of 100 dB is heard 4 times louder than a sound of 80 dB. As explained by the National Hearing Day association (JNA) “it is not the nature of the sound that can cause a hearing risk, but its intensity. Thus, even if what we hear is pleasant, if the volume is too high, the hearing risk is very present“.