Headphones a danger to heart pacemakers
Heart patients should be wary – headphones might disrupt the normal working of your pacemakers. A new study found that pacemakers and even implanted defibrillators are vulnerable to headphone interference.
The AP reported the finding where doctors say the headphones could even prevent defibrillators from delivering necessary shocks. Where does the danger of headphones actually lie? Magnets, says the study’s leader, Dr. William Maisel. Maisel is a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, as well as heart device consultant to the Food and Drug Administration.
“I certainly don’t think people should overreact to this information,” said Maisel but he added that heart patients should keep headphones at least a few inches from implanted devices. He also said not to let someone wearing headphones lean against your chest. Other factors would come into play as well – such as whether the headphones are plugged in to the music player, and whether the music players is on. So you don’t necessarily have to push your significant other away should she decide to lean against your pacemaker-equipped chest.
What is the import of such a study? Well, around 2 million people depend on heart devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators to keep their hearts functioning. Earlier tests had concluded that so long as iPods or other MP3 players are used properly, there is no threat. So of course they had to see if the findings held true for headphones.
Unfortunately, studies found that when headphones were within an inch, they caused interference one in four times, with a pacemaker actually resetting itself in one patient.
One last bit of advice from Dr. Kenneth Ellenbogen, a heart device expert at Virginia Commonwealth University: “Keep your headphones on your ears and when they’re not on your ears, you shouldn’t put them over your chest or your pacemaker.”
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