About this Publication on Personal Music Players & Hearing

1. Source for this Publication
   
2. The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR)
   
3. Background to this SCENIHR opinion
   
4. Specific questions asked by the European Commission to the SCENIHR
   

1. Source for this Publication

The texts quoted in Level 3 are directly sourced from  "Potential health risks of exposure to noise from personal music players and mobile phones including a music playing function", an opinion produced in 2008 by the SCENIHR (Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks) of the European Commission.

Levels 1 & 2 were written by Dr. Marisa Fernandez in collaboration with the GreenFacts editorial team and the DG Health and Consumers of the European Commission.

This publication is produced by GreenFacts under a contract from the DG Health and Consumers of the EC.

2. The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR)

The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks is one of three independent non-food scientific committees that advise the European Commission on matters of consumer safety, public health and the environment.

The committee was set up in 2004 to provide the European Commission with scientific advice on emerging and newly identified risks. It replaced the Scientific Committee on Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (SCMPMD). SCENIHR addresses broad, complex or multidisciplinary issues requiring a comprehensive assessment of risks to consumer safety or public health. It also answers questions on related issues not covered by other community risk-assessment bodies.

Potential risks addressed by the committee include antimicrobial resistance, new technologies such as nanotechnology, medical devices, tissue engineering, blood products, fertility reduction, cancer of endocrine organs, noise and electromagnetic fields.

For further information on the SCENIHR see:
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/04_scenihr_en.htm 

3. Background to this SCENIHR opinion

The Opinion on  "Potential health risks of exposure to noise from personal music players and mobile phones including a music playing function", was adopted by the SCENIHR on 23 September 2008 following a public consultation procedure and a series of earlier reports.

The SCENIHR had undertaken a public consultation on the basis of a  preliminary report published on 24 June 2008. Interested parties submitted a series of comments or pertinent scientific information by 27 August 2008. The opinion draft was finalized after consideration of the comments received.

4. Specific questions asked by the European Commission to the SCENIHR

The SCENIHR was asked in its  "Opinion on Potential health risks of exposure to noise from personal music players and mobile phones including a music playing function" to assess, in the light of current scientific data and knowledge:

1. Whether the exposure to noise from devices like personal music players and mobile phones with this function, at levels corresponding to current permissible noise emissions may cause quantifiable health risks, in particular hearing loss and/or hearing impairment to the user, and to specify the relevant outcomes;
2. In case health risks are identified, the SCENIHR is asked:
   1. to identify the level of noise emission safeguarding the health of citizens, taking into account the intensity, length and number of exposures to users of personal music players and mobile phones with the same function and
   2. to identify priority issues for further research.

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