Rockbox - Hearing Loss Prevention

[skip252]

You can have the exact same thing in Rockbox. All you need is to have a .cfg file named "fixed.cfg"(no quotes) in your .rockbox folder. It only needs to have one line in it. Mine is "Volume: -26". That boots the player at that volume every time.

If I want to quickly boost the volume and turn off all the processing so the car sound system will play properly I "play" the In The Car.cfg file I saved after I set that up. When I turn on the player again after using it in the car the fixed.cfg file adjusts the volume back to -26 again.

There's a lot that can be done in Rockbox on the user side without waiting for someone who knows how to code to write a patch and fight to get it accepted. You could wait for that or take a minute to create a fixed.cfg file and deal with it yourself. That's the type of thing I meant when I said I learned how to take care of my hearing without waiting for others.

[CrowdAds]

[lebellium]

Originally Posted by skip252

If you prefer lebellium can move this to an appropriate thread of it's own. I could do it but I prefer not to be seen as attempting to intimidate or suppress discussion. Until then you'll be hearing what I think of this here.

Done.
Feel free to edit the thread title if you have a better title^^

[skip252]

No thread title editing from me. I think it's appropriate. Yamashiita Ren is the OP now and it's the OP's privilege to change a thread title.

[The DarkSide]

Don't tell me how loud I can listen to my music. This isn't the EU, and I'll be damned if my players are crippled by this French initiated bullshit. I don't own archos players because they can't even drive my headphones to acceptable levels. And I've used cassette players, CD players, MP3 players since I was a child. My hearing gets tested yearly, and my hearing is above my age level (45). Keep your restrictions to yourself,...not in Rockbox, not on my Sansa, Sony, Samsung, Apple, or Creative players.

If a person is so stupid and irresponsible that they can't adjust the volume level to keep from losing their hearing & permanently going deaf than so be it. Don't tell ME I have to suffer for your negligence and stupidity!!!

Get better,...but not at MY GOD DAMN EXPENSE!!!

[Appick]

Abit aggressive isn't it? It's only an electronic device!

[lebellium]

It seems that some people misunderstood the original topic: turning volume up unintentionally (in the pocket for example) or forgetting to turn volume down when using a different headphone/earphone. That can happen to anyone and has nothing to do with being too stupid to listen to music at a reasonable volume level.

Thus, if you go on that way, I'm going to close the thread.

[Predelnik]

Originally Posted by skip252

You can have the exact same thing in Rockbox. All you need is to have a .cfg file named "fixed.cfg"(no quotes) in your .rockbox folder. It only needs to have one line in it. Mine is "Volume: -26". That boots the player at that volume every time.

If I want to quickly boost the volume and turn off all the processing so the car sound system will play properly I "play" the In The Car.cfg file I saved after I set that up. When I turn on the player again after using it in the car the fixed.cfg file adjusts the volume back to -26 again.

There's a lot that can be done in Rockbox on the user side without waiting for someone who knows how to code to write a patch and fight to get it accepted. You could wait for that or take a minute to create a fixed.cfg file and deal with it yourself. That's the type of thing I meant when I said I learned how to take care of my hearing without waiting for others.

Yeah considering that actually very small amount of people would actually need it (at least people who have risk of getting hearing loss from this). I could even say that it's appropriate fix, and yes, getting patches into rockbox could be not easy, but still if this feature would be implemented nothing bad would happen for normal users anyway.

[Mo. FryDaddy]

I hate putting headphones in and having the music blasting, so now I put the headphones in my ears AND before plugging them in to the DAP I always check the volume so this never happens.

As for TheDarkSide's Rant, I quite frankly agree with him, he could have phrased it differently, but I think he got point across without being too aggressive. The only use I personally see for volume limiting software is for parents to protect their kids. Other than that I see it as coddling the general public and making it so they don't have to take responsibility/think for/about their actions (in this case turning the volume up too much). It's the same as having Big Brother always "looking out" for you and what "He" thinks is in your best interest, whether it is right or wrong.

That being said I think if it was implemented across all devices as an option and NOT forced on me, then who would I be to complain since it wouldn't affect me at that point.

[The DarkSide]

I understood what this is about, and an iPod has "volume limit" that I can choose to use for children. But I also see the thread advocating using this to allow a universal volume limit across the board - if I want it or not. Having an Apple type setting would be acceptable, but having it be mandatory and on by default would be against my freedom to do what I choose to do with my devices.

And I agree - check the volume of a player BEFORE you put the headphones in/on your ears. Then the personal issue of hearing induced trauma wouldn't be an issue.

Oh, and I meant no personal attacks,...especially towards the French people. The government of France tho,...they can KMA.

[Lorenz092]

What the hell, stay calm please!
If you had spelled your message in a clearer way it wouldn't have been misunderstood. You did not speak about a ready-to-use feature nor how did you do.
Sorry for that, it sounded egoistic for me that's all!
And now PLEASE we try to stay in the topic!
Please describe:

- some options that are already present in rockbox to reset the default volume at startup.
- ideas, proposals (all these mustn't "require everyone be encumbered with steel toe shoes")

Thank you all

(BTW your post is really educational to study some new word of English )

[Yamashiita Ren]

Haven't really the desire to argue about this or that.

My initial idea was to share my experience. I tough that it would help RB devs to improve RB experience but it seems that I have misunderstood the RB community ...
You don't want safety, you don't want ergonomics. Okay ...

One last thing, everybody can make errors. At best, you can lower the odds. Sad to see that a man who is 20 years older than me haven't understood it yet ...

You can use this topic and debate this matter if you want. I'm leaving, I have other thing to fight for.

[The DarkSide]

I understood all that has transpired in this thread, and being 20yrs older I see you've missed your own point. Especially since this has been a hotly debated topic (mandatory volume limits) here and across the internet for years. If you had done a bit of research and the original direction of this thread was about JUST having the ability to create a personal volume limit it would have gone according to some individuals wishes. Alas,...it's gone south,...as all these threads go.

Tata,...

[skip252]

Originally Posted by Lorenz092

What the hell, stay calm please!
If you had spelled your message in a clearer way it wouldn't have been misunderstood. You did not speak about a ready-to-use feature nor how did you do.
Sorry for that, it sounded egoistic for me that's all!
And now PLEASE we try to stay in the topic!
Please describe:

- some options that are already present in rockbox to reset the default volume at startup.

I've done that two times now.

Originally Posted by skip252

I never said I haven't made a mistake in controlling the volume on one of my DAPs. I said I figured out how to protect my hearing. I went to the Rockbox forum and searched "volume limit". That brought me to this thread http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,16878.0.html that showed me how to have a player always start at a preset volume. Using a fixed.cfg file with a volume setting makes it simple. If I choose to do that.

Originally Posted by skip252

You can have the exact same thing in Rockbox. All you need is to have a .cfg file named "fixed.cfg"(no quotes) in your .rockbox folder. It only needs to have one line in it. Mine is "Volume: -26". That boots the player at that volume every time.

If I want to quickly boost the volume and turn off all the processing so the car sound system will play properly I "play" the In The Car.cfg file I saved after I set that up. When I turn on the player again after using it in the car the fixed.cfg file adjusts the volume back to -26 again.

It doesn't seem to be sinking in the fixed.cfg file option has been available for years. The thread in that link is from 2008. If you do the "volume limit" search I did on the Rockbox forum you'll find the idea has been discussed a few times.

[Lorenz092]

I've done that two times now.

Okay my mother tongue is not English but "If you had spelled your message in a clearer way it wouldn't have been misunderstood" was referred to your (very) first post.
I stop it here now.

[skip252]

Apparently there is some barrier we both are bumping into. I thought you were referring to the way this thread was going, not my original post. I'll happily take the responsibility for any misunderstanding if in the end it becomes easier for someone interested in Rockbox or hearing safety to learn how easy it is to protect themself from this type incident.

Despite the perception of some in this thread I am deeply interested in hearing safety. You can't enjoy the music if you can't hear the music.

My thought is that is was much too difficult to find the information on how a fixed.cfg file can be used to help protect against unexpected volume levels at boot. I'm fairly certain from the reaction here most people haven't dug out that information. It may be possible to make that information more accessible.

Adding a sticky to each of the Rockbox subforums here shouldn't be difficult. The sticky topic could be along the lines of "Safeguard Your Hearing With A fixed.cfg File". The body of the sticky would need to be a short set of directions on how to create the file and it's benefits.

Making the message clear in a few sentences would be important. Most people aren't going to read a wall-o-print to dig out how to protect against something they don't believe will happen.

After that's done the information could be pushed to the front page to help spread the word. I don't have the permissions needed to do that part but interesting ideas from the forum can be put there by contacting one of the admins.

My writing style isn't that good at keeping things short. I'd like to request anyone that thinks this may be a useful idea write it up and either post it or send it to me through a pm. I'll be trying to create something that might work and post it up once I think it might be suitable.

Any thoughts as to whether this might be useful are certainly welcome. My experience has been when more people add their ideas it increases the probability a solution that's suitable for the majority can be found.

[Lorenz092]

Originally Posted by skip252

Apparently there is some barrier we both are bumping into. I thought you were referring to the way this thread was going, not my original post.

Yes. Indeed some barriers, now it looks everything solved

And yes, speaking about your idea related to the forums, this has certainly to be considered.
Back to our previous "ideas" it should be also done a little option accessible within rockbox for that (i.e. "Make the current setting to be default")...Indeed there is no need to create a new feature

In practice, take a look there:

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CustomConfigFile

You can set, along the volume, other standard configurations.

@Yamashiita Ren: you can set there the preferred volume at startup

Sorry again for the misunderstandings! Hope now is everything clear...

[Yamashiita Ren]

Thank you Lorenz092, but I think that i am not going to use earphones during a few months

And yes, the feature already existing, it's really a shame that it haven't been included in Rockbox before ...

[Appick]

I eventually got 'round to reading the manual in August and don't remember seeing this fixed.cfg - wish I had. It's brilliant not only for the sound but for the display too. I have the display on a minimum to save on battery but I change it when changing settings or playing sudoku. Often I forget to revert the settings. Now with this I don't have to bother! Thanks.