New York City, NY — Michael Bloomberg, who is banning large sugary drinks effective March 12, is worried to too many young people are going deaf listening to music on their iPods and other devices.
So the NYC mayor now plans to launch a $250,000 social media crusade warning users that loud music in their MP3 players can hurt their ears. As it stands, the campaign is just a health education program, and despite the mayor’s reputation, there’s no indication that Michael Bloomberg will go after headphones in the same way he cracked down on large sodas or pursued other public health initiatives.
According to the New York Post , one of Bloomberg’s officials described the Hearing Loss Prevention Media Campaign as follows:
“With public and private support, a public-education campaign is being developed to raise awareness about safe use of personal music players . . . and risks of loud and long listening.”
Bloomberg’s public education campaign against loud music will primarily target Facebook and Twitter.
CBS News reports that hearing loss is more likely with earbuds, and that the health risk has substantially increased since the advent of iPods, iPhones, and other similar devices.:
“Music players that use ‘buds’ inserted into the ears pose a greater threat to hearing than older devices. Government health surveys show hearing loss rose 30 percent among teens between 1988 and 2006.”
Listening via headphones or earbuds is said to be safe up to the 85-decibel level, but an iPod cranked up to the max can reach a very unsafe 115 decibels.
It is admittedly very annoying when you are stuck sitting or standing next to someone playing his/her music so loud that the sound is bleeding out of the headphones. That being said, do you think it is the government’s role to play a role in this matter? Have you personally experienced any hearing loss?
So far, Bloomberg isn’t making himself many news friends on Twitter for his new headphones education program:
So Bloomberg has banned trans fats large sodas large coffees and now he’s trying to ban styrofoam and loud music #weneedaconservtiveinthere
— James Coyne (@James_M_Coyne) March 6, 2013
What is Bloomberg’s problem? Is there nothing better to ban than personal headphones? Give me a break… nypost.com/p/news/local/m… #tcot #p2
— Simon Templar (@SimonTemplarPV) March 6, 2013
Watch a local news report on Mayor Bloomberg’s earbuds/headphones initiative: