Tech Shout!

Nowadays, MP3 players particularly the iPod has become an essential part of one’s life. We can’t do without music when jogging, in trains and just about everywhere.

But, now doctors have advised joggers to be extra careful about using MP3 players under certain circumstances such as thunderstorms.

Doctors at the Vancouver General Hospital in Canada said that a 37-year old jogger who was wearing an iPod was burned on his chest, neck and face, soon after the man and a nearby tree were struck by lightning.

The burns traced the path of the earphones so much so that the patient’s eardrums were ruptured and the small bones in his middle ears got dislocated.

Not only that; the man’s jawbone broke in four places and both jaw joints got dislocated. Such injuries were said to have taken place because the electric current made his jaw muscles contract violently.

The doctors said that the metal in the earphones helped channel the current and thus caused such injuries.

“Although the use of a device such as an iPod may not increase the chances of being struck by lightning, in this case, the combination of sweat and metal earphones directed the current to, and through, the patient’s head,” the doctors said.

Eric Hefferman, one of the doctors said that it’s not just iPod headphones that pose a risk.

“I think that this has the potential to occur with any sort of headphones,” Hefferman said.

Now, two years later, more than half the patient’s hearing has gone and he cannot hear high frequency sounds, even with hearing aids.

The National Weather Service has estimated that a person’s odds of being struck by lighting are 1 in 5000. Around 10% of those who are struck die.

Last year, a team of London doctors had concluded that lightning posed a threat to mobile phone users.