FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey ya’ll … FRIDAY .. it’s here. I enjoy Friday’s … they are a bit more laid back, and it’s my “day off” from the church so I’m able to catchup on some other business stuff, have some relax time, yard time, etc.

So, there’s an interesting thread going on over at TheWorshipCommunity.Com entitled “How Loud do you Run” … regarding sound levels in our church services. Travis, our full-time TD (Tech Director) has some good replies there and seems to have a great handle on what we’re doing at church.

This got me thinking about all of us using iPods, though. I was at the gym on the “eliptical trainer” machine a couple of days ago [fitness update - last weigh in this morning was 212 ... down from 230 on Easter!] jamming out to the “My Savior Lives” tune on the New Life Worship CD … using my Shure E5 earbuds. It rocked, but I had it blaring. Then, I read a blurb in MacLife magazine this AM where an older gentleman wrote in to the Editor … he’s lived a while, gotten wiser, and unfortunately … more deaf … with only 35% of his hearing left in one ear. He commented about how he sees kids listening to iPods and he can hear every beat and word bleeding out of their iPod earbuds.

Studies suggest that when listening to earbuds (iPods, walkman, etc) that you should keep it no more than 60% MAX VOLUME for limited periods (which is defined as fewer than 2-3 hours per day).

iPods have a volume limiter built in, but I’m not sure it’s activated by default – it’s in the Menu Preferences, and you can attenuate the max volume DOWN a bit. So even if you “crank it all the way up”, it’s not REALLY all the way up. I activated mine, and dialed the max volume down a bit. (I wonder if that affects the max volume when connected to my car stereo?)

I know it’s not fun to think about, but we all should. Our hearing is one of the greatest gifts we have. I’ve lost a good bit of hearing, and I live with constant ringing in my ears. I’m grateful that I even have hearing AT ALL in my left ear after going through major surgery years ago to have a grape-sized cholesteotoma tumor removed from down in there.

So, my advice and counsel … listen to the pros … turn it down … jam out loud if you want .. but for very limited amounts of time.

For the Kingdom,
Fred