Headphones threaten pacemakers

RESEARCHERS reported Sunday that the headphones used with popular MP3 players, like Apple's Ipod and others, can interfere with implanted heart pacemakers and defibrillators.

A team from the Medical Device Safety Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston told an American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans that it had tested eight types of MP3 player headphones, including both earbud and clip-on models, with 60 heart patients.

The MP3 players themselves didn't seem to pose any risk, they said, but the strong magnets in the tiny headphones were found to interfere with implanted heart monitoring devices in 14 out of the 60 test subjects, or about a quarter of the patients. They found that MP3 player headphones were about twice as likely to interfere with defibrillators than with pacemakers.

The headphones created interference with the medical devices only when they were placed in close proximity to them, that is, within about 1.2 inches. The devices usually went back to operating normally again once the headphones were removed, the medical researchers said.

The research team's leader, Dr. William Maisel, said their test findings indicate that patients with pacemakers or defibrillators should not place the headphones in a shirt pocket or coat pocket near the chest, drape them over their chests, or let others wearing headphones rest their head on the patient's chest.

"The main message here is: it's fine for patients to use their headphones normally, meaning they can listen to music and keep the headphones in their ears. But what they should not do is put the headphones near their [heart] device," Dr. Maisel told Reuters. µ