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Anyone else concerned about Air Pod safety?

J

jigzaw

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 12, 2012
582
465
I think they look like really awesome earbuds and my first thought was "I am SO getting those", but I'm kind of leery of them because apparently they communicate with each other by transmitting THROUGH YOUR HEAD. I haven't been too afraid of bluetooth, but a constant and continuous path of low-level microwaves through your brain just sounds like asking for trouble. The best I can find by reading news articles is that some scientists say it's fine because it falls below the FCC's standards for safe exposure and others say that the FCC's standards are woefully low and mostly influenced by the companies that want to sell these devices.

I'm no conspiracy theorist and I love my phone and ipad and I even have a bluetooth pair of earbuds (though they are wired to each other, hence hopefully not shooting signals through my head). Anyway, I just hope these things don't hurt people. Plus that W1 chip seems pretty awesome.
 
I think that at this point you can find 'evidence" to support whatever side you personally stand by. I am unsure anyone is going to be able to tell you something like this is 100% without a doubt safe.

I don't plan on buying these, but I will say, for the hour or so a day I would use them I wouldn't concern myself terribly about it.
 
jigzaw said:
I think they look like really awesome earbuds and my first thought was "I am SO getting those", but I'm kind of leery of them because apparently they communicate with each other by transmitting THROUGH YOUR HEAD. I haven't been too afraid of bluetooth, but a constant and continuous path of low-level microwaves through your brain just sounds like asking for trouble. The best I can find by reading news articles is that some scientists say it's fine because it falls below the FCC's standards for safe exposure and others say that the FCC's standards are woefully low and mostly influenced by the companies that want to sell these devices.

I'm no conspiracy theorist and I love my phone and ipad and I even have a bluetooth pair of earbuds (though they are wired to each other, hence hopefully not shooting signals through my head). Anyway, I just hope these things don't hurt people. Plus that W1 chip seems pretty awesome.
Click to expand...

My thoughts are that each individual Airpod is receiving signals from the device that it's connected to, like the iPhone, iPad or cellphone... not really connecting to each other. So the signal is by your head but not necessarily going through your head due to each Airpod "communicating" to each other. Hopefully I'm right about that.
 
Just because the Air Pods connect to each other and your head happens to be between them, doesn't mean they are "transmitting through your head" any more than your phone is transmitting through your head when you are holding it in your hands.

Your phone, your WiFi router, your Bluetooth microphone, your Bluetooth wireless stereo system....they're all transmitting 360 degrees around them, and thus, through your head.

I wouldn't worry about it. It's no more unsafe than holding your phone to your ear.
 
You have a far greater chance of getting hit by a bus then getting cancer via ear buds, get a grip.
 
It's going to come out eventually how unsafe this stuff is. You can feel when the mobile hotspot in turned on if you grab the phone.
 
jigzaw said:
I think they look like really awesome earbuds and my first thought was "I am SO getting those", but I'm kind of leery of them because apparently they communicate with each other by transmitting THROUGH YOUR HEAD. I haven't been too afraid of bluetooth, but a constant and continuous path of low-level microwaves through your brain just sounds like asking for trouble. The best I can find by reading news articles is that some scientists say it's fine because it falls below the FCC's standards for safe exposure and others say that the FCC's standards are woefully low and mostly influenced by the companies that want to sell these devices.

I'm no conspiracy theorist and I love my phone and ipad and I even have a bluetooth pair of earbuds (though they are wired to each other, hence hopefully not shooting signals through my head). Anyway, I just hope these things don't hurt people. Plus that W1 chip seems pretty awesome.
Click to expand...

It's not just the frequency (2.4GHz), it's also the amplitude / signal strength. Bluetooth radios are typically quite weak, vs the radio in your cell phone which has a quite significant range.

Fears over the latter....let's just say they're not entirely without merit. The greater the exposure, the greater the risk.
 
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