[paulchiu]

Last year, Ultrasone claimed that their Edition 10 LE has lower EMF radiation to protect user from dangers that may cause hearing loss or something even worse.  Although they did not state this in official web posting, they certainly repeat this message during road shows in numerous audio events.  There are Youtube videos with Ultrasone reps making these claims.
 
Since my son uses headphones extensively, I wanted the lowest emitting headset for him.  He has been using the Grado GS1000i and RS1 for most of his music work.
 
I took delivery of the Ultrasone ED10 recently and took these readings:
 

 

 
Mostly near 1 or under 1 milligauss for the Ultrasone ED10 LE
 

 
Mostly over 1.5 to about 2.0 milligauss for the Sennheiser HD800
Still safe as it is well under 3.0 mg, but.....
 

 
The Grado GS1000i here measured mostly around 1.5 milligauss, peaking close to 1.75 mg
 
 
Paul
 
 
 
 

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Last year, Ultrasone claimed that their Edition 10 LE has lower EMF radiation to protect user from dangers that may cause hearing loss or something even worse.  Although they did not state this in official web posting, they certainly repeat this message during road shows in numerous audio events.  There are Youtube videos with Ultrasone reps making these claims.
 
Since my son uses headphones extensively, I wanted the lowest emitting headset for him.  He has been using the Grado GS1000i and RS1 for most of his music work.
 
I took delivery of the Ultrasone ED10 recently and took these readings:
 
Mostly near 1 or under 1 milligauss for the Ultrasone ED10 LE
 
Mostly over 1.5 to about 2.0 milligauss for the Sennheiser HD800
Still safe as it is well under 3.0 mg, but.....
The Grado GS1000i here measured mostly around 1.5 milligauss, peaking close to 1.75 mg
Paul

Paul,
Just as a point of fact so that you don't unknowingly allow your son to harm his hearing, Ultrasone offers NO hearing protection of any kind over and above any other headphone.  Sound pressure level, measured in dB (deciBels) is all that matters with regard to your hearing safety.  There are numerous hearing safety charts published around Head-Fi and on the web where the levels are detailed.
 
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=standards&p_id=9735
http://www.abelard.org/hear/hear.php#how-loud
 
There is no known health benefit to be derived from the Mu metal baffles used in the Ultrasone headphone construction.
 
 

 

[DaBomb77766]

Hm, have you tried taking measurements from a cellphone during a call?  I'd assume that would be an order of magnitude more than this.  Interesting that people are actually measuring EMF for  headphones though, even if I do feel it's rather irrelevant.

 

[Ra97oR]

Hearing damage is from sound pressure level as said above, if I am going to worry about EMF and other radiation, I am more scared about microwave and comic radiation bombarding us all the time.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Hm, have you tried taking measurements from a cellphone during a call?  I'd assume that would be an order of magnitude more than this.  Interesting that people are actually measuring EMF for  headphones though, even if I do feel it's rather irrelevant.

Cell phones do not emit static and low frequency magnetic fields.
 

 

[DaBomb77766]

Quote:

Cell phones do not emit low frequency magnetic fields.
 

Oh, right, we're talking about magnetic fields here.  Either way, I'm all but certain that magnetic fields have no effect whatsoever on human health...

 

[maverickronin]

And its all non-ionizing radiation anyway, so unless there's enough to actually heat something up like in a microwave it doesn't matter at all.

 

[Amarphael]

Very intersting thread, Thanks very much for sharing with us. What i'd really like to see measured are some Orthos,  Those huge magnets and the gobs of current that are needed to run them properly... A bit disturbing if considered from this POV, Go figure.

 

[paulchiu]

kwkarth,
 
Thanks for your reply.
SPL levels can damage one's hearing if too loud.  We are concern about that, so we set the Grace amps for his work to not exceed certain levels.
As for the EMF concerns, that's not for hearing loss but possible cancer risk from headphone use.
The fact that the EMF levels of the Ultrasone ED 10 measured was noticeably lower than others was a nice find.
 
 
Quote:

Paul,
Just as a point of fact so that you don't unknowingly allow your son to harm his hearing, Ultrasone offers NO hearing protection of any kind over and above any other headphone.  Sound pressure level, measured in dB (deciBels) is all that matters with regard to your hearing safety.  There are numerous hearing safety charts published around Head-Fi and on the web where the levels are detailed.
 
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=standards&p_id=9735
http://www.abelard.org/hear/hear.php#how-loud
 
There is no known health benefit to be derived from the Mu metal baffles used in the Ultrasone headphone construction.
 
 

 

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

kwkarth,
 
Thanks for your reply.
SPL levels can damage one's hearing if too loud.  We are concern about that, so we set the Grace amps for his work to not exceed certain levels.
As for the EMF concerns, that's not for hearing loss but possible cancer risk from headphone use.
The fact that the EMF levels of the Ultrasone ED 10 measured was noticeably lower than others was a nice find.

The "EMF" emitted by headphones is non-ionizing static and low frequency magnetic fields.  Studies have shown that such magnetic fields may actually be beneficial to humans, for example in helping broken bones to knit.  All of the Ultrasone cans that use Mumetal sheilding/baffles offer the same low levels of magnetic fields from their least expensive to their most expensive.
 

 

[Amarphael]

Btw, how much does a meter like yours is worth if don't mind me asking?

 

[paulchiu]

Of course we have and they are not of orders of magnitude over from headphones.  Also, your typical headphone session maybe of longer lengths than those of phone calls.
Quote:

Hm, have you tried taking measurements from a cellphone during a call?  I'd assume that would be an order of magnitude more than this.  Interesting that people are actually measuring EMF for  headphones though, even if I do feel it's rather irrelevant.

 

 

[Ra97oR]

Magnetic field is a non ionising radiation, in fact the earth is a huge magnet anyway. There is no link from non-ionising radiation to health risks. I would rather care more about other ionising radiation more, they are known to cause health hazard. I think you are mixing up a non-ionising radiation (magnetic static field) to other ionising radiation out there. Mass media often portray all kind of radiation as harmful but in reality there is no link for non-ionising radiation to be any more harmful than visible lights. Most people just freak out when someone mention the word radiation thanks to mass media.

 

[paulchiu]

don't be too sure about that.
the typical home microwave puts out 15 to 20 milligauss of EMF, within 10 seconds, heat will result.
some headphones we measured produced over 3 milligauss and typical listening sessions are for long periods.
you may want to search for articles from the New England Journal of Medicine among others concerning EMF and cancer.
I am not unique here as I am about the same age as most and have children who are not only growing up with headphones, but cell devices of all sorts.
Am I concerned over these exposures they have 24/7?  Just look at the increase of autism, cancers, and other health issues in children over the last decade.
 
Quote:

And its all non-ionizing radiation anyway, so unless there's enough to actually heat something up like in a microwave it doesn't matter at all.

 

 

[Ra97oR]

don't be too sure about that.
the typical home microwave puts out 15 to 20 milligauss of EMF, within 10 seconds, heat will result.
some headphones we measured produced over 3 milligauss and typical listening sessions are for long periods.
you may want to search for articles from the New England Journal of Medicine among others concerning EMF and cancer.
I am not unique here as I am about the same age as most and have children who are not only growing up with headphones, but cell devices of all sorts.
Am I concerned over these exposures they have 24/7?  Just look at the increase of autism, cancers, and other health issues in children over the last decade.
 


 

It is the frequency of the microwave that causes heat, it resonance with water di-poles. Magnetic field on the other hand have no frequency it is at 0Hz, it won't cause heating effect like microwave.