May 11th, 2007
MP3 Players Can Interfere with Pacemakers
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
MP3 players, if played too loudly, can harm your hearing, which is bad enough, but a study by a 17-year-old high school student shows that MP3 players can interfere with pacemakers by interfering with the electromagnetic equipment monitoring the heart.
The study tested the effect of the portable music devices on 100 patients, whose mean age was 77, outfitted with pacemakers. Electrical interference was detected half of the time when the iPod was held just two inches from the patient’s chest for five to 10 seconds. The study did not examine any portable music devices other than iPods, which are made by Apple Inc.
In some cases, the iPods caused interference when held 18 inches from the chest. Interfering with the telemetry equipment caused the device to misread the heart’s pacing and in one case caused the pacemaker to stop functioning altogether. Source: ComputerWorld
We Say: Naturally, they only tested iPods. 
In reality, of course, this would be applicable to all MP3 players. They indicated they would need to continue testing, and would also like to take a look at effects on implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). So, if you have a pacemaker, at least for now, don’t put it in your shirt pocket when using it!
Dawn says:
This is not surprising to me. I have had a pacemaker since 18. Cell phones are a problem as well. Holding one in the same hand as the side the implant is in is just asking for problems. Holding one in the other hand is not much better. So I would guess an MP3 player would have a similar effect. I would like to know if the individuals who had less problems had older pacemakers, because my last pacemaker seemed better at filtering EMF. Both were made by Medtronic.
May 12th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
TechFresh says:
yeah I figured as much..the force between the two are so powerful that pacemakers give out easy..they’re very fragile.
June 8th, 2007 at 2:46 pm