Could Headphones interfere with a Pacemaker or Defibrillator?
Could Headphones interfere with a Pacemaker or Defibrillator?
Do people with a pacemaker or a defibrillator have to worry about the magnets in earphones disrupting the device and preventing it from doing its job? According to the FDA earlier this year mp3 players and other devices poses no threat to these devices as long as they are used properly. A group of doctors wanted to find out if the headphones had the same result. I mean after all you can’t listen to an iPod without earphones.
They test eight different models of earphones on 60 different people with heart devices. When the earphones were about an inch from the device there was some interference that resulted. About 25% of the 27 pacemakers show the interference and 10 of the 33 patients defibrillators showed signs if interference. One of the patient’s pacemakers actually reset it’s self.
The interference can prevent the defibrillators from delivering that shock to the heart that cold save a person’s life. It the pacemakers the interference could cause heart palpitations. The effect that the headphones have on the devices falls off quickly as the magnet gets farther away.
The only part of this story that I don’t understand and maybe its because I don’t understand pacemakers and defibrillators, but how do you get a headphone an inch from a pacemaker? Isn’t it physically inside the person? I guess it couldn’t be if they were able to get the headphones that close.
