Careful Where You Rest Your iPod Headphones

People with a heart pacemaker or an implanted cardiac device should be careful where they leave the headphones of their MP3 player. According to a report at the American Heart Association meeting this year, the magnets in the headphones might throw off a pacemaker or defibrillator when placed within an inch of them.

The researchers, who came from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, studied the effects of two iPod brands (Nano and Shuffle) on 60 patients with implanted pacemakers or defibrillators. While the iPods had no effect, their headphones produced interference in 23% of the subjects – inappropriate pacing in 4 out of 27 pacemaker patients, and inhibition of defibrillator action in 10 of 33 patients.

The magnetic field strength varies considerably with different brands of headphones, but, more important, the magnetic field strength falls off very rapidly with distance. However, it should be remembered that the magnetic field is always “on”, whether or not the iPod is switched on.

So, all you cardiac patients with implanted devices, who also like to listen to music on the move, please ensure you keep the headphones in your pants pocket rather than in your shirt breast pocket; and make sure your spouse or child removes any headphones before laying their head on your chest.