A small, new study has revealed that placing the ubiquitous ear buds or other headphones too close to the chest could interfere with the proper functioning of the devices used to keep hearts beating at their proper rhythm.
Patients should not place the headphones, which contain magnets, in shirt pockets or drape them over their chest, lest they risk havoc with their heart-rhythm devices, researchers said.
Pacemakers are deices that are used to treat slow heart rhythms, while implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) jolt dangerously racing hearts back into a normal rhythm.
For patients with pacemakers, exposure to the headphones can force the device to deliver signals to the heart causing it to beat without regard to the patients.
Exposure of ICDs to magnets in headphones may deactivate them, causing the device to stop looking for abnormal heart rhythms.
Results of the 60 patient study were presented at the American Heart Association scientific meeting in New Orleans. Researchers tested eight different models of MP3 player headphone with iPods. They found a detectable interference with the heart devices in 14 patients 30 percent of ICD patients and 15 percent of the pacemaker patients.
Source: TOI
