MP3 listening levels on London underground for music and speech

In the last 10 years the prevalence of the MP3 players has grown exponentially. The use of devices with in-ear earphones under urban conditions has been reported widely in the press anecdotally. This study compared listening levels for 33 test subjects under quiet conditions and that representative of a London Underground train journey. Calibrated and equalised recordings of underground trains running in tunnels were played through a loudspeaker in an anechoic chamber, whilst pop music, rock music or speech were played through in-ear earphones. Whilst the participates listened to the MP3 player, a Binaural Head and Torso simultaneously measured the noise levels through a second set of identical in-ear earphones. The participants had time to adjust the volume to a comfortable setting on each occasion. Results show very high levels of noise exposure particularly for rock music, 94% of subjects exceeding lower exposure action value within 1 h on an underground train journey. The MP3 player volume setting increased significantly more for speech than for music when underground train noise was introduced.