Helicopter kills student wearing headphones

[combot 0]

HELICOPTER CRASH

Death spurs headphone debate

FIONA MORROW

May 15, 2008

VANCOUVER -- The death of a pedestrian in Cranbrook, B.C., on Tuesday has raised the question of how loud is too loud when it comes to listening to iPods and other personal music players.

Isaiah Otieno, a 23-year-old student, was killed when he was struck and dragged by a helicopter that crashed to the ground as he was walking to the mailbox.

Eyewitnesses reported that Mr. Otieno seemed completely unaware that he was in danger and a friend told reporters that he often listened to music through earbuds (in-ear headphones) with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head.

Concern over safe use of headphones is growing. Last year, Carl Kruger, a Democratic state senator from New York proposed a bill to ban the use of iPods and other electronic devices while crossing the street.

Though Mr. Kruger's bill was defeated, his position was echoed last fall by the charity Deafness Research UK, which launched a similar campaign to persuade young people to switch off their personal MP3 players while crossing the road.

But Lorienne Jenstad, assistant professor in the school of audiology and speech sciences at the University of British Columbia says that it's too early to draw any conclusions about the degree of risk.

"There are a lot of beliefs and assumptions right now on how dangerous this headphone use is, but currently no data to back them up," Prof. Jenstad said.

"In our own informal tests, we've found that the range of volume used is very wide - from moderate to levels that are potentially able to cut out all background noise," she said.

And if you've got the volume cranked too high, you may be able to tell by the ringing in your ears, said Geordon Hoag, digital music product consultant at Tom Lee Music in Vancouver. "The average downtown street registers at around 60 decibels. A jet plane flying overhead is generally quoted at 120 to 130 decibels. If you are playing your music loud enough to cut out that level of noise, then you have it cranked to a degree that is damaging your hearing."

It may also depend on the type of headphones you are wearing, he added. Though the perception is that in-ear headphones are more isolating than over-the-head headphones, the reverse is actually the case. "The seal that surrounds the ears on a good set of traditional phones shuts out more external noise," Mr. Hoag said.

Still, research on headphone use has focused on hearing loss, for a reason: Other safety issues are "pretty obvious," said Linda Polka, associate professor in the school of communication science and disorders at McGill University. "I see people riding bikes while listening to iPods, and it's horrific. You shouldn't need to educate people about that." 

Story from The Globe and Mail. quote>

What really baffles me about this story is the fact that they are making a huge deal about headphone safety when he was stuck by a HELICOPTER.

[Cornish terrorist 1]

What? the helicopter was coming down on top of him, poor guy couldn't of done anything even if he saw it coming.

[coolotter88 2]

you know, I don't really care, because I don't listen to music. the other people can get hit by cars if they like.

[GingerBlokey 30]

I listen to music on full-ear headphones and I'm not totally blanked out. I think I'd notice a helicopter.

I find it quite shocking the iPod is being blamed and not the helicopter.

[coolotter88 2]

well, the helicopter did crash, but how it crashed is something the article didn't touch on.

And was it a real, full size helicopter? or just an RC helicopter? I mean, larger, more fancy RC helicopters may be heavy enough to kill if it fell from the sky.

and helicopters are pretty darn loud, rotors whirring, even when it's crashing, the rotors would make a loud racket that would get louder to the target as it gets closer.

[un1 41]

It isn't RC it is a full size helicopter.

This worries me for about 200 kids at my school who all walk with ipods blasted. I can hear them from the other side of the road!

[z26fireman 1]

Originally posted by: un1 It isn't RC it is a full size helicopter.

This worries me for about 200 kids at my school who all walk with ipods blasted. I can hear them from the other side of the road!quote>

thats alot of helicopters...

[Bumdark 3]

... How the hell could they be more worried about iPods and volume levels and that stuff, when a HELICOPTER crashed into the poor bastard? I mean, I think someone should take notice whenever a several-ton-hunk-of-metal falls from the sky when it's not really supposed to...

If it was an RC chopper, then of course it wouldn't be as important concerning the chopper itself, but if it's full-size, then we're talking Air Crash Investigation here...

Apropos, does anyone know if the chopper's story itself is being mentioned in another story? I'm thinking maybe this news story has two parallel sides - one with the kid getting crushed, and another with the actual helicopter and why it went down, or who went down along with it? Just curious.

And BTW... How bloody unlucky does one have to be to be crushed by a falling helicopter, anyway? I've heard about loads of dumb and pointless deaths, from falling into laundry chutes to going aligator-baiting (though then they're stupid enough to die, in my opinion...), but being crashed into by a full-sized heli...

Also, finally, I don't think any amount of iPod and volume combination would have been able to block out the extreme decibels the chopper would have been making when it descended catastrophically onto the guy, so this part's fishy. Anyone who's ever seen or heard a chopper taking off in real life knows how incredibly loud those things are, comparable to a full-throttle jet engine, so how could even a powerful iPod block that out...? Beats me. Maybe it was just an easy target...

[saltandsauce 0]

they have a point. a lot of people i know are like the stereotypical old granny with the ear horn shouting SPEAK UP! and they are not even out of school.

i would like ipods and general music players to be regulated so i don't have to hear awful ned dance music from the other end of the bus

[belfastuniguy 18]

i would like ipods and general music players to be regulatedquote>

How exactly?

As for the story of course the iPod is not to blame, totally ridiculous, yeah the music was maybe too loud but I would notice and helicopter falling to the ground they make a bloody great deal of noise even when high in the sky.

[Easy Bakes 253]

They are called obliviots.

not peopel who get crushed by helicoptors   dont know what they call those.

but those who are so into thier phone conversations or music they dont pay attention

to thier surroundings. They have banded cell phone use in cars in most cities becaus of this or at least require head sets while driving, its the same effect.

[Smarty218 2]

That's completely ridiculous. How can one expect a helicopter to come down on him while crossing the street?

[krbe 193]

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy

How exactly?

As for the story of course the iPod is not to blame, totally ridiculous, yeah the music was maybe too loud but I would notice and helicopter falling to the ground they make a bloody great deal of noise even when high in the sky.quote>

France has a decibel cap at 100 or so to protect the ears. However, why does it needs to be regulated? Other papers says the helicopter was crashing, which means there's a good probability that the rotors didn't make the usual sound. Then you're back to "normal noises", which means that he could just as well been killed by a drunk driver because he didn't notice anything unusual. It's not like you don't know that you're out of this world when the music is pumping through your ears. It's common sense to retain enough senses to survive in the real world. Even in broad daylight you can't shut it out!

You know you might die if you cross the street looking straight ahead only listing to (too) loud music. The same way you might be killed by a crashing helicopter (it was crashing long before it hit this idiot), or a car or lorry which has run amok, or a collapsing building if you don't pay attention. Ask yourself this: Would you turn the music to max while walking through an area know for its rapists and violent assults at night, or would you prefer to know what's going so you can do something before anyone hit you? A normal street isn't safer, but it all goes better because the threats are different and you have other / better ways to discover them before something happens.

[Wrightguy0 40]

He was crushed by a helicopter, face it, when those things go down, they go down fast, there's nothing anyone can do to get away from one. Even if the kid had seen it it still would have been too late. To blame this on the volume of the kids music is an insult to the four people who died in this accident. What this is is some retard wants to use this as a scapegoat for their stupid anti I-pod cause by blaming the the student's death on his music. this sort of article is a discrace and using a horrible accident like this to prop up some stupid cause should be illegal.

For the love of god!  A helicopter crashed and this is what they decide to focus on.  Not the three people who died in the helecopter or why it crashed but that Headphones are to blame somehow.  W T F!??!!?

[JanYpe 17]

Come on guys, did you all forget to drink your morning coffee? There's two parts in this article:

The first is where this poor bloke was so oblivious to the world that he didn't even notice the helicopter that was about to turn him into mush. (the first three sentences)

 The second is where they point out the blindingly obvious fact that it might not be a bad idea to remember that impairing your hearing can be dangerous, even if the chance of being struck by a helicopter are decidedly slim, and that having your music turned up to eleven all the time will cause hearing damage.

It is not about having someone expect a falling helicopter or blaming the guy's death on his music. Reading comprehension matters.

[derwilly 17]

As cruel as it sounds, this is "survival of the fittest" to its maximum extent. Those who are smart enough do not isolate themselves 100% from their surroundings. It was a helicopter, indeed a lot of bad luck, but he could have also been easily ran by a car or a truck.

Some months ago I saw in the news a similar story about a guy who was walking by the side of the railtracks and didn't hear the train coming. He was killed, too.

There are deaths we can not avoid, and there are deaths we can avoid by not being dumb.

[saltandsauce 0]

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy

i would like ipods and general music players to be regulatedquote>

How exactly?

As for the story of course the iPod is not to blame, totally ridiculous, yeah the music was maybe too loud but I would notice and helicopter falling to the ground they make a bloody great deal of noise even when high in the sky.quote>

how about only letting the volume go so high instead of deafiningly loud

i havn't brought up the fact a helicopter was involcved but still you get the point hearing is being eradicated by deafeningly loud (usually repetative) music

[belfastuniguy 18]

I disagree with government having a 'limit' on the volume of music players, its completely ridiculous and if people want to deafen themselves then that's their problem, not something for the government to issue a policy on. In my view their time is better spent on other things.

[Ded 30]

I imagine he perhaps might've heard the sound of a helicoptor crashing, had he not been listening to such loud music.

Its not that a helicoptor crashed, its that he died by restricting the use of his senses.

[TRNSTN 0]

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy I disagree with government having a 'limit' on the volume of music players, its completely ridiculous and if people want to deafen themselves then that's their problem, not something for the government to issue a policy on. In my view their time is better spent on other things.quote>

It's not that big of a deal if the government regulates how loud your music player devices can go. It wouldn't waste a lot of time becuase it's just common sense and sometimes you just need to enforce that common sense through policy.

I think the man is to blame for not bieng more aware of his surroundings. Completely blocking out noises and having a hood over your head while crossing a street? I bet he didn't even look both ways, a number of things could've killed him.

The chances of a helicopter crashing to the ground and killing someone and the chances of people listening to music too loudly, being ignorant to their surroundings and getting killed is a lot lower. It's a preventative measure. I see a lot of pedestrians are pretty stupid they think just because the light says they can go doesn't stop the speeding car running the red. Honestly in high school some people these days can't even hear you anymore and I feel like I"m talking to my grandma because I have to speak so loud. Limiting th volume is common courtesy and a safety issue.

[deimo5 52]

So, what if the guy was deaf??? It may have been the same result. Why are they focused on the iPod?

[krbe 193]

Originally posted by: deimo5 So, what if the guy was deaf??? It may have been the same result. Why are they focused on the iPod?quote>

But he wasn't deaf, just utterly stupid. And if he had been deaf, he would have been a lot more aware of his surrondings.

[dabadon5 295]

that had to hurt !

[Voar Tok 4]

Originally posted by: deimo5 So, what if the guy was deaf??? It may have been the same result. Why are they focused on the iPod?quote>

Because he probably wouldn't be deaf if he hadn't been damaging his ears with his iPod?

[ricb 19]

Deafness has nothing to do with it. Deaf folks aren't unaware of what's happening around them. It would appear he was so into his music he had no time to react (Assuming there were signs that something was wrong, such as bystander s shouting.). This is why I don't have an Ipod.

[Voar Tok 4]

Originally posted by: TRNSTN

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy I disagree with government having a 'limit' on the volume of music players, its completely ridiculous and if people want to deafen themselves then that's their problem, not something for the government to issue a policy on. In my view their time is better spent on other things.quote>

It's not that big of a deal if the government regulates how loud your music player devices can go. It wouldn't waste a lot of time becuase it's just common sense and sometimes you just need to enforce that common sense through policy.quote>

No, you don't need to do that.  It's not the government's place to be saying that a music player can only get so loud (now, neighborhood noise laws are an entirely different story).

Originally posted by: ricb Deafness has nothing to do with it. Deaf folks aren't unaware of what's happening around them.quote>

Which is true so long as there's another way for them to pick up the presence of something.   (My mom's dad is almost deaf and mostly blind - he's pretty much unaware of anything going on around him unless he can sense it with touch).  Odds are good that this guy didn't see a shadow and the only way for him to have known it was coming was the sound.  Thing was, he couldn't hear.

[hamsterTK 93]

I also don't agree that this a matter where laws should be involved.

Look it's stupid and against common sense to do this. But I think people will quit doing it once word spreads that it isn't a good idea to be so oblivious.

Think about obnoxious trends from the past that were similiar. Super dark Ray-bans. Boom Boxes. Hoodies.  But nobody does that anymore.

[coolotter88 2]

lol, you have to be pretty stupid to get killed by a train. Either that, or you really want to die.

[Jersey_17011 0]

personally i always have my mp3 player at hand, wether it be riding my bike or whatnot, but i'm at least respnsible enough to keep the volume low enough that i can hear cars, people, ect. i definetly don't think there should be laws on them though....i mean come on, it's about responsibility, do there really have to be laws on that when it's there own fault?

[beebs 129]

The news here the other night mentioned that eyewitnesses claim the engine was sputtering. It's likely the guy wouldn't have been able to hear it, even with a 100 dB cap on volume. He may have had noise canceling headphones as well, which wouldn't have helped either.

I don't understand how the guy is stupidthough. Because a helicopter landed on him? How unlikely is that situation going to happen.. he was probably extremely aware of what was happening on street level. Do all of you guys check above you as well when you cross the road?