Body Electric: Your earbuds and you—what all that listening is doing to us

TED Radio Hour

NPR

Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Science, Technology

4.4 • 21.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2024

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Our special series, Body Electric, is back! This time, host Manoush Zomorodi does a deep dive into our headphone habits... because many of us wear them for hours at a time, and all that listening is taking a toll on our hearing.

Manoush speaks with exposure scientist Rick Neitzel, who has partnered with Apple on a first-of-its-kind study to find how our daily listening patterns are affecting our hearing. Neitzel offers advice on safe listening habits that can help protect our ears in the long term.

Later, Manoush takes us into the future of "consumer hearables" and how tech companies want us to never — ever— take our earbuds out.

Interested in joining the Apple Hearing Study? Sign up here.

Binge the whole Body Electric series here. Sign up for the Body Electric Challenge and our newsletter here.

Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ, or record a voice memo and email it to us at [email protected].

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This message comes from NPR sponsor, Stripe.
0:03.0	Tap to pay on iPhone, and Stripe can help you grow your business's revenue and reach
0:08.0	through accepting more in-person contactless payments right from an iPhone.
0:13.0	To learn how, visit Stripe.com slash
0:16.2	tap iPhone.
0:17.3	Hey Ted Radio Hour listener, it's Manouche.
0:19.8	So last fall we did a special series called Body Electric which was all about how our
0:24.8	tech habits are impacting our physical health. Today we are continuing that
0:30.0	series with an investigation into what all our earbud and headphone listening is doing to our
0:37.2	hearing. If you like this episode, go check out the Body Electric Feed for more.
0:42.5	All the episodes from season one are there.
0:45.0	Plus, we've been doing new five minute walk and talks
0:48.7	with people who are trying to get more movement
0:51.4	into their screen-filled lives. I hope you'll join us. Meanwhile, enjoy this episode.
0:57.0	Hey, it's Manouche. And have you ever considered what we needed to listen for
1:08.0	thousands of years ago? That rumble in the distance is a storm coming?
1:15.0	How about those birds?
1:17.0	If you run fast enough, maybe you can catch dinner.
1:20.0	Just in time for a nice chat with your family by the fire and maybe a little music
1:26.2	on the drum.
1:29.8	But what about today?
1:31.2	How are you listening right now? Did you just boost the volume on
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -307 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.