Toxic headphones 🥵

[Shrek]

Research suggests market-leading headphone brands might be hiding a nasty chemical secret

How safe are our headphones?

www.whathifi.com

 

[Jasonovich]

Oh my, that's scary.
Side effects as per extract from article;

early onset of puberty in girls, feminisation of males and even cancer.

I do hope the industry, moving forward, can provide us with more transparency, such as labelling of those brands using toxic plastic materials in their headphones.

 

[davidf]

And who knows what's in all the cheap Chinese ones.

 

[matthewpianist]

I think the discoveries around building materials (asbestos, insufficient firebreaks, flammable cladding etc.) is sufficient evidence that we can never have complete confidence in the safety of the things we use, and that caution is a sensible thing. Take it from someone who owns a flat in a five-storey building currently awaiting remediation work for the latter. The difficulty is in balancing caution and living.

 

[Angle Poise-Lamp]

Nothing about to what extent these chemicals leach out into our skin, no mention of what represents a safe level of exposure and, keeping quiet about what headphones they say they have tested.

Difficult not to see this as biased scaremongering. If the "problem" is as great as they seem to want us to think, why isn't there a huge scandal around the plastics used in computer mice and keyboards, with many millions of people spending all day using them at work?

 

[Deliriumbassist]

Nothing about to what extent these chemicals leach out into our skin, no mention of what represents a safe level of exposure and, keeping quiet about what headphones they say they have tested.

Difficult not to see this as biased scaremongering. If the "problem" is as great as they seem to want us to think, why isn't there a huge scandal around the plastics used in computer mice and keyboards, with many millions of people spending all day using them at work?

The study can be downloaded from here:

The Sound of Contamination: A Comprehensive Analysis of Endocrine Disruptors and Hazardous Additives in the Headphones

The ToxFree Life for All project analysed 81 headphone models (180 material samples) across Central Europe and online marketplaces like Temu and Shein. 100% of products contained hazardous substances, including bisphenols, phthalates, and flame retardants. While these products do not pose an ac...

arnika.org

I'm not providing an opinion on it either way yet, as I have not finished reading through it.

 

[Gray]

I've had decades of exposure to asbestos, lead solder fumes and a mouth full of broken mercury fillings.
If headphones cause me to grow tits, it might be the least of my worries 🤔

 

[Angle Poise-Lamp]

The study can be downloaded from here:

The Sound of Contamination: A Comprehensive Analysis of Endocrine Disruptors and Hazardous Additives in the Headphones

The ToxFree Life for All project analysed 81 headphone models (180 material samples) across Central Europe and online marketplaces like Temu and Shein. 100% of products contained hazardous substances, including bisphenols, phthalates, and flame retardants. While these products do not pose an ac...

arnika.org

I'm not providing an opinion on it either way yet, as I have not finished reading through it.

The PDF available on the site tells us what they found in the plastics but, doesn't appear to provide any mention of how much of those chemicals actually enter the body. also the claims made, seem to ignore the fact that most of the plastic content of on or over ear headphones, is not touching your skin while they are in use.

 

[davidf]

What would you consider "safe level of exposure"?