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headbirth · Feb 14, 2005, 10:06 AM

Just curious here, but I wwas wondering if the high-pitched noises from drives and screens is capable of damaging a persons hearing?

hadocon · Feb 14, 2005, 11:12 AM

Originally posted by headbirth:
Just curious here, but I wwas wondering if the high-pitched noises from drives and screens is capable of damaging a persons hearing?

Yes.

No one ever talks about this, so I am glad you brought it up. I have been in talks with my lawyer about a possible class action suit against not only Apple, but all other electronics manufacturers. THEY HAVE KNOW THE DANGERS OF HIGH-PITCHED NOISES FOR YEARS and have done nothing to educate consumers.

I bought my grandfather who is 89 an iMac last year. Before using it his hearing was fine. Now that he has had it for about a year, he is losing substatial hearing capability.

If anyone else has similar experiences with hearing loss please post to this thread so I can show it to my lawyer!

maxintosh · Feb 14, 2005, 11:39 AM

Originally posted by hadocon:
I bought my grandfather who is 89 an iMac last year. Before using it his hearing was fine. Now that he has had it for about a year, he is losing substatial hearing capability.

That's a logical fallacy. The man is 89! Of course he is losing his hearing. He is lucky that it's been so good for so long. Just because you added an iMac to his environment, doesn't mean that caused his hearing loss. There is no logical connection, especially considering the billions of computers in use today and lack of any medically-affirmed, attributable major hearing crisis serves as a counterpoint to your conclusion.

High-pitched noises are more dangerous, and it's the high ranges that you lose first. But the amount of noise made by a computer is negligable. Prolonged exposure to the wail of a police siren or noise at a concert is of intensity to damage your hearing. You know when your hearing is on the verge of being damaged because you hear a ringing in your ears as the bones clench together.

"My iMac made me deaf!" Sounds like a tabloid headline. Yet another stupid lawsuit.

ideasculptor · Feb 14, 2005, 12:34 PM

High pitched noises are not inherently dangerous. Just about every sound you hear has harmonic content that is WAY higher than the pitches you hear most from a computer. Danger stems from amplitude (volume) of the sound. LOUD high pitched noises can definitely do damage (as can loud low pitched noises), but the frequency of a quiet sound is irrelevant. Yor grandfather's hearing is going because he's 89, or some other factor. It has nothing to do with the computer, unless he's sitting with his head right next to the speakers and cranking the volume while listening to iTunes, I suppose.

hadocon · Feb 14, 2005, 12:59 PM

Originally posted by maxintosh:
"My iMac made me deaf!" Sounds like a tabloid headline. Yet another stupid lawsuit.

It is people like you who are part of the problem. If no one beleives that computers and other electronic devices are emitting harmful sounds how am I going to win the lawsuit and get money for the billions of those who are affected?

You use computers obviously, don't you want to have some money for when your hearing starts to go, like my dear Grandfather?... Perhaps if I bought him one of those Windows PCs that hook up to your television he would not have this problem.

ALERT: if you can, hook your computer up to your television, there are less harmful noises coming out of them.

This is why I am selling my powerbook and bought a Mac Mini - so I can hook it up to my TV and be safe.

SpaceMonkey · Feb 14, 2005, 01:12 PM

Originally posted by hadocon:
It is people like you who are part of the problem. If no one beleives that computers and other electronic devices are emitting harmful sounds how am I going to win the lawsuit and get money for the billions of those who are affected?

You use computers obviously, don't you want to have some money for when your hearing starts to go, like my dear Grandfather?... Perhaps if I bought him one of those Windows PCs that hook up to your television he would not have this problem.

ALERT: if you can, hook your computer up to your television, there are less harmful noises coming out of them.

This is why I am selling my powerbook and bought a Mac Mini - so I can hook it up to my TV and be safe.

If my hearing starts to go when I'm 89, like your grandfather, I'll consider myself lucky. Seriously, to claim that the iMac caused your grandfather significant hearing loss is ridiculous. Being born in the early '80s, I've been fortunate to have used computers from a very young age, and, over a decade later, I have no hearing loss. Most people my age that I know have also been using computers since a very early age. We'd be seeing an epidemic of young people like myself losing their hearing if these "high pitched noises" were dangerous, and we're not.

ncsurfer · Feb 14, 2005, 01:20 PM

Originally posted by hadocon:
It is people like you who are part of the problem. If no one beleives that computers and other electronic devices are emitting harmful sounds how am I going to win the lawsuit and get money for the billions of those who are affected?

You use computers obviously, don't you want to have some money for when your hearing starts to go, like my dear Grandfather?... Perhaps if I bought him one of those Windows PCs that hook up to your television he would not have this problem.

ALERT: if you can, hook your computer up to your television, there are less harmful noises coming out of them.

This is why I am selling my powerbook and bought a Mac Mini - so I can hook it up to my TV and be safe.

You're just looking for a handout!

maxintosh · Feb 14, 2005, 01:22 PM

Originally posted by hadocon:
It is people like you who are part of the problem. If no one beleives that computers and other electronic devices are emitting harmful sounds how am I going to win the lawsuit and get money for the billions of those who are affected?

You use computers obviously, don't you want to have some money for when your hearing starts to go, like my dear Grandfather?... Perhaps if I bought him one of those Windows PCs that hook up to your television he would not have this problem.

ALERT: if you can, hook your computer up to your television, there are less harmful noises coming out of them.

This is why I am selling my powerbook and bought a Mac Mini - so I can hook it up to my TV and be safe.

Man you are really out there. I don't believe it because I haven't seen anything to support it. The amplitude of sound coming from a computer is tiny. I've seen tons of examples to counter your theory... where are all the deaf iMac users that aren't at an age where hearing loss is normal/expected?

You can't win a case based on bad logic -- the burden of proof is on you!

Good luck in court -- you'll need it!

(And my TV makes a much louder high-pitched whine than my LCD. Besides, TVs are blurry and hard to read text off of -- next you'll be suing electronics makers for making his eyesight go at age 110!)

jasonsRX7 · Feb 14, 2005, 01:33 PM

Sarcasm is lost on so many people.... <sigh> I got it, hadocon.

maxintosh · Feb 14, 2005, 01:35 PM

Originally posted by jasonsRX7:
Sarcasm is lost on so many people.... <sigh> I got it, hadocon.

If that's sarcasm, it's pretty weak.

skelotar · Feb 14, 2005, 01:55 PM

Another useless thread.. and here's my contribution.

I think the lady who sued McDonalds for her coffee being too hot had more merit.

I should sue my elementary school for having computers and not warning me because now my hearing is starting to go. You ever considered the fact that hearing aids are computers?

hadocon · Feb 14, 2005, 02:04 PM

Originally posted by jasonsRX7:
Sarcasm is lost on so many people.... <sigh> I got it, hadocon.

<bows>

Thank You....

I'll be here until Thursday.

hadocon · Feb 14, 2005, 02:15 PM

Originally posted by maxintosh:
If that's sarcasm, it's pretty weak.

IMHO The real weakness was falling for for it.

Whas the Original Poster being serious? I most certainly was not.

hadocon · Feb 14, 2005, 02:21 PM

Here is where I save the thread by posting pics that show normal hearing, and high-range impared hearing.

romeosc · Feb 14, 2005, 02:36 PM

I think HP should pay that their calculators forced me to forget how to multiply/devide by hand and they made my Post slide rule obsolite!

analogika · Feb 14, 2005, 04:57 PM

Originally posted by headbirth:
Just curious here, but I wwas wondering if the high-pitched noises from drives and screens is capable of damaging a persons hearing?

If it hits 97+dB, be sure to let us and your lawyers know.

If not, and you still have trouble, dump your computer, move out to the country, and make sure to have somebody shoot every bird on sight.

They might damage your hearing.

maxintosh · Feb 14, 2005, 05:10 PM

Originally posted by hadocon:
IMHO The real weakness was falling for for it.

Whas the Original Poster being serious? I most certainly was not.

Heh. Well considering some people I've met in the past, it wouldn't have surprised me.

Altair · Feb 15, 2005, 01:26 AM

Originally posted by hadocon:
IMHO The real weakness was falling for for it.

Whas the Original Poster being serious? I most certainly was not.

Written text is hard to tell if it's serious or sarcastic without some kind of marker saying that it is. Text does not have a tone to tell people this.

I wish I had even the hearing loss chart for the hearing in my bad ear (none). My low range is even worse than that high range in my good ear though my high range is decent. Though I have a very wierd hearing pattern.

Randman · Feb 15, 2005, 01:55 AM

Good one on the grandfather. Nice touch.