No longer is “Tickle-Me Elmo” the most desired holiday toy. This past holiday season, the most wanted stocking-stuffer matched the Elmo sell-out craze at barely a 1/16th of the size.

On April Fool's Day, 1976, in a garage, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs released the Apple I computer and started Apple Computers. The Apple I was the first single circuit board computer.

After going through many changes along with many up's and down, Apple hit the jackpot with their mp3 players. First came the 20-gigabyte, then the mini, followed by the compact shuffle, and finally the nano. As the iPod became smaller, the convenience grew larger. The mini could fit in any pocket, but the nano was designed to fit in a wallet.

“I really like my nano and all the accessories available to buy, it holds up to 500 songs and it's small so I can listen to it at school and not be so bored,” said freshmen Garrette Gunn.

With Apple selling more than twenty million iPods thus far, not to mention other mp3 industries, experts are beginning to think there could be significant hearing damage in the long run.

A recent study by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) found 39% of 18 to 24-year-olds listened to personal music players for at least an hour every day and 42% admitted they thought they had the volume too high.

Freshmen Aurbee Weathers, who bought her iPod shuffle before winter break said, “ I like listening to mine turned all the way up, although teachers will get upset if they can hear it.”

The RNID regards 80 decibels as the level at which hearing is threatened, a mere 20 less than a pneumatic drill, all this is being pumped directly into the ear canal.

"Every time you increase a sound level by three decibels, listening for half as long will produce the same amount of hearing loss." Brian Fligor, ScD, of Children's Hospital in Boston

Although CD players and Walkmans are also still popular, they do not hold as high of a risk as iPods and mp3's. Since iPods hold thousands of songs and can play for hours without recharging, users tend to listen continuously for hours at a time. Unlike CD players and Walkmans, users do not have to change CD or tapes.

“I would definitely take an iPod over a CD player. It is much more convient and holds more songs, plus you don't have to change out CD's in the middle of class” said junior Casey Streff

Not only should listeners turn down their volumes but they should also loose the earbud-style headphones packaged with iPod and mp3 players, which can cause even more of a serious hearing loss. Earbuds can boost the signal by as much as six to nine decibels (which is the difference between the sound of a vacuum cleaner and a motorcycle). These headphones rest inside the ear, which can lead to damage after just an hour of high-volume music in the 110-120 decibel range. Not surprisingly, rock and rap are the most dangerous, since they're typically played at a higher volume than classical or jazz. This applies more to the average teenager at Topeka West since most teens do not listen to jazz or classical. To help prevent this problem we suggest users switch to over-the-ear headphones and start dialing down the volume on iPods to “6” or lower.

Photography and digital imaging teacher, Mr. Berryman, who has owned a 5-gigabyte and recently owns a 10-gigabyte 4th generation iPod and has a 20 gigabyte iPod Photo on the way in the mail, follows the motto that “If it's too loud, you're too old!”

While a routine hearing test administered by a doctor can reveal mild hearing loss, the problem may become advanced before people realize they're having serious difficulty hearing. While some are taking responsibilities for their actions, others are pushing their hearing problems back on Apple. This is not a huge problem in Europe where a French law was passed that requires Apple cap the iPods volume, but even the capped maximum still exceeds expert recommendations, at 100 decibels.

There are only a few cases in the US where people are trying to sue Apple and other mp3 companies for the development of hearing loss, but experts are worried that they will be faced with the same type of suits in which McDonald's was faced with.

“They are just leaches of society who are looking for a free dime”, Berryman said. He also commented that they are making a personal choice to set the volume so high.

Denying the danger of noise-induced hearing loss would not be so easy if loud music made the ears bleed, but the early symptoms tend to come on gradually. People may notice that voices sound muffled, and that they have a reduced ability to follow a conversation in a noisy environment such as a restaurant or a party. Another symptom could be a ringing in their ears that could become so bad as to interfere with sleep.