Did you know, that if you are purchasing a personal music player in an EU country the ability to increase the volume will have been artificially limited? By this, I mean limited by software/firmware rather than by the ability of the electronics.
This is because the manufacturers of such devices are complying with the ‘European Commission / EU law’.
However, I only found out about this because I was disappointed with the volume of my Sansa mp3 player. My older one was much louder and when researching a solution I came across information about unofficial firmware, which I did not want to use but then I found this a solution offered by Sansa which was very helpful and did the trick. http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7890/~/sansa-player-volume-is-too-low
It did also offer the following warning. Due to EU regulations, the volume output of a portable audio device MUST be limited to 85dB.
So what’s the problem?
Firstly, I was not aware of this limitation so I put the blame on Sansa for making a lousy player; it turns out that the player was good but the software was altered thanks to an EU regulation. To be fair it probably was somewhere in the manual, but I for one rarely read an operating manual. Who does?
The other problem is that I can’t find any legislative documentation, regulation or law in regard to this matter. There is this page
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-09-1364_en.htm
That seems to be it. Or is it just me that can’t find this?
So you want to go deaf? Pardon?
No, that would be awful but I am sure that imposing a volume cap on manufacturers (if indeed they have) is not the answer. If they have not imposed this, why are the likes of Sansa stealthily making my mp3 player useless to me?
It is for your own good. Why so objectionable?
While it can’t be argued that the intention to protect our hearing is a good one, I don’t believe this is the right way to do it.
While they are being very scientific in Brussels, I know a thing or two about the audio I am hearing.
- It’s loud enough
- It’s not loud enough
The reality for me
I am an avid listener of mainstream music, classical music and audiobooks.
Scenario 1
I am listening to mainstream modern music. It is great, no problem at all with a volume cap. This type of music is produced to be at its maximum loudness; hence I don’t need to crank up the volume too far.
Scenario 2
I am listening to some soothing, quiet classical music. I have the volume maxed and it is not loud enough. This is because some music is extremely dynamic with very quiet parts and some loud parts. The problem is the quiet bits; they are often too quiet with the volume cap. Yes, the last 30 seconds of the piece is of moderate volume but the rest is ruined by the cap.
Scenario 3
I listen to a lot of audiobooks. I have a love-hate affair with Audible. Some of their books are really badly optimized when it comes to loudness. Due to the annoying DRM Audible use in their files, I can’t process the file to improve the volume optimization. They request that the narrator normalize the audio, but for reasons I won’t go into in this article, this is not enough to optimize the volume. So the result often is DRM + EU volume capping = Can’t hear it.
Also, connecting my mp3 player to my surround sound system via the audio input produces a feeble unimpressive sound.
Thankfully, I found out why and fixed the problem, but I can tell you, I was close to disowning Sansa because of the EU.
Why volume capping is a waste of time. In my opinion!
- Damage to hearing is not caused by listening to loud music … It is caused by listening to music that is too loud for too long. Most people have listened to music that is too loud for a few hours and not suffered permanent ear damage.
- The generation that this restriction is aimed at, the young that listen to heavily produced pop music, will find a way around the setting. Possibly with unofficial firmware :/
- While I am sure that the European Commission will / have researched this scientifically I am not convinced they understand the impact in the real world and people’s listening habits.
- Understanding decibels is not for the fainthearted, it is too complicated – In my (admittedly) limited understanding of decibels mathematical relationships, I understand it in practical terms and use it daily for audio metering purposes. Most people don’t work in audio and have no concept of dB
Also, the dB device value is relative to many other factors, including: –
- The content being listened to – its dynamic nature i.e. loud rock or quiet classical.
- Type of headphones used – i.e. closed-cup headphones, noise rejecting headphones, earbud headphones etc.
- The rated OHM’s of the headphones – whether any headphone splitter is used.
- Listening environment – Moderate background noise can make some content such as audiobooks impossible to hear.
- Period of exposure, quite simply how long and how often you listen to material exceeding 85dB.
What would I propose?
I propose that the European Commission make the manufacturers responsible for educating the users. There is a number of ways that this could be done, off the top of my head, via the device, upon registration, via the website to unlock your device etc.
Done well, and with all of the relevant information, this could be engaging, interesting and educational.
Personally, I am listening to some trance music at home while writing this. My phone sound level app is saying that the average level has been 57dB. But I confess to having a peak outburst earlier for about 20 minutes. I measured an average of 87 Decibels for a short time when I lowered the volume, to an average of 80dB and then back to 57dB.
Yes, I may be a bit of a geek, but I understand the safe limits and take responsibility for my own ear health as it is important to me. There is nothing special about this, somebody could be educated on these matters quite easily.
I am warned about the perils of drinking too much on the side of my beer can. This means I can decide how many units to drink based on the information that I am given. There are warnings on many alcohol labels here in the UK by the Drinkaware Trust (www.drinkaware.co.uk), a national charity providing consumer information about alcohol, and one of the three following messages as a heading: “Know Your Limits,” “Enjoy Responsibly,” or “Drink Responsibly.”
Although we know that too much alcohol is bad for our health the European Commission would not pass legislation to cap the amount of beer you can drink in a pub. Can you imagine a law that imposes your night out to 1.5 pints of beer!? Haha.
So, EU, why ruin our music tech with a meaningless volume cap? Just imposing a cap of 85dB without understanding user habits is not helpful.
Why not educate people and trust them to make an informed decision. Please educate people to “Listen Responsibly” and leave our players without functional limitations.
so many stupid comments here. its up to the person to have more volume or not, how about the iems that are above 45 to 100 ohms, is that placed into consideration, or snowflakes dictates something without knowing anything. i bet people that commenting here does not even know whats ohms, yes, don’t google it.to late
The problem is that some products have volume caps and you can not turn it up past a certain setting. For instance, my phone provides a warning when you reach a certain value but it does allow you to exceed it if you wish. At the time of writing this post, my mp3 player had a fixed lowered volume. You could not turn it up beyond that point which meant some low produced sound, such as spoken word and classical music was inaudible in certain environments.
With headphones the standard consumer headphone is 32 ohms and anything higher, such as my 250 ohm set would just have the effects of making the sound quieter.
Hi, this thing is very annoying to me, my blood pressure goes up just thinking about it.
I listen to music/audiobooks over Bluetooth regularly when driving and every 20 hours the volume lowers AUTOMATICALLY, forcing me to unlock the phone, dismiss the warning and raise the volume again. I probably don’t have to explain how dangerous doing that is while driving…
I don’t mind getting the initial warning that much, but automatically turning down the volume is just ridiculous.
Did you ever try to contact someone at the EU about it?
I share your views 🙂
When using public transport I can hear other peoples music coming from their MP3/4 yet I can hardly hear a word from my audio books! so bloody annoying.
Stupid and overreaching. You can always turn in down. My problem with the underpowered mp3 players is that they don’t have enough output for your car stereo or portable speakers. Another example of the government stepping in where they don’t have the right and haven’t thought it through
I couldn’t agree more 🙂
Not good. I use a bluetooth pairing method between a phone and a motorcycle helmet as a communications device. I also use hearing protection. With bluetooth devices, the amplifier is in the BT unit – not the phone, so the phone can’t know what the volume of the output system will be.
Bluetooth units with their own volume control however are calibrated to receive the full volume range from a BT media compliant device, not 70% of it.
With the software volume at maximum, the actual volume of sound that reaches my hears, through the foam hearing protectors, is about equal to listening to a radio quietly in a luxury automobile.
When the “85db volume warning” kicks in, it cuts my communications to inaudible, forcing me to terminate communications. Pull off the highway. Remove my gloves. Unpack my phone. Click the stupid warning.
Volume warnings for headphone jack? maybe. Volume warning for bluetooth? Makes no sense.
Thanks, EU.
I have been about 50 percent deaf since I was born, so what constitutes ‘normal’ volume for other people is no good for me: I would prefer to be the ultimate arbiter of what I can choose to listen to, and how.
But this actually causes another problem for me as well: I am interested in old computers, the sort which used to load their software from cassette tape. It is theoretically possible to load hundreds of retro software programs onto an MP3 player and use it to upload software into an old computer: (The computer thinks the audio is coming from a tape recorder). The problem is that few if any MP3 players produce high enough audio levels for this to actually work, so that’s a good idea spoiled.