iPods May Cause Pacemaker Malfunctions

May 2007

A new study has highlighted a shocking and unexpected danger - iPods, the popular portable music players, can make pacemakers malfunction. Electromagnetic interference may cause the pacemaker to improperly read the pace of the heart, and in one extreme case, caused a pacemaker to completely stop working.

To test the effects of the iPods, the music players were held two inches away from the chest of patients for five to ten seconds. In some tests, iPods were able to cause interference from as far away as 18 inches.

Out of 100 patients participating in the study, electrical malfunction was detected about 50 percent of the time. The study concluded that the interference could cause doctors to misdiagnose heart conditions in affected individuals.