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Bally Total Fitness

Headphone Policy

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Amy of Bellevue WA wrties (10/30/01):
I sent this email to Bally:

I am a member at the Bellevue club in Washington state. We have been told that we will be forced to use headphones if we want to listen to the televisions starting in November. Is this a club-wide policy? If so, why? Using headphones during aerobic activity actually causes damage to hearing. We should not be required to use headphones to watch the televisions. The televisions are not close enough together for this to give us a choice of channels or anything.

I have included one study and website about the dangers of using headphones during aerobic activities. From Headwize Headphone guide: http://www.headwize.com/articles/hearing_art.htm

Wearing headphones (especially the Walkman-style) during exercise is also dangerous to hearing. Aerobic exercise diverts blood from the ears to the limbs, and leaves the inner ear more vulnerable to damage from loud sound. A Swedish study estimated that the risk of hearing loss is doubled when listening to headphones at high volume during aerobic exercise. The study recommends limiting headphone use during exercise to one-half hour per day at half volume.

This is the ridiculous reply that I received:

Wearing headphones to listen to the TV's at the clubs is optional, however, is company policy. The sound on the TV's will be muted. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have been caused by this matter, and have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate Regional Area Director's office for review. Thank you for choosing Bally Total Fitness to serve your health and fitness needs.

This is a legitimate study and headphones will cause damage if used consistantly during aerobic activity at high levels. Of course you HAVE to put them at high levels to hear them above the treadmills and other machines. This is a new policy in our area and totally unacceptable. As you can see, my questions were not answered in thier email back- they merely quote "policy."

Also, having a choice between not being able to listen to the television at all or being forced to endanger our hearing is hardly a choice. These new "policies" were added without the consent of members. We have a signed petition saying that we DO NOT want these required headphones to be able to listen to the TV while we do aerobic exersize.

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