Invest is some decent isolating headphones. My current choice are Ultimate Ears. I never turn the volume up above 25%. They block out the noise of the tube (which believe me is an impressive feat alone) and they sound awesome, I mean out of this world different to the buds they provide with the ipod.

Agree with Lightlyseared. I’ve got some Shure in-ear headphones… and also need not crank up the volume past 25%. Great on the airplane.. And I notice less occurrence of tinnitus afterwards since everything is quieter.

When I need to hear ambient noise, I still use my original iPod headphones, though.

@Brian; check each ear; maybe there is a cork stuck in there.

I have severe hearing loss in one ear due to a really bad fall four years ago. I broke one of the little bones that helps conduct sound (Stapes.) It is not fun to have to wear a hearing aid. Luckily I still have one good ear. The other one is not working well, even after three surgeries. So, Friends and Countrymen, tend to your ears,

maybe you blew your ear thing ha ha funny thing i am using an mp3 right now.

What, pray tell, is blowing an “ear thing”?

It isn’t a european ipod is it? they have an in-built volume limit set for some french law. All ipods in the UK are super quiet its annoying.

@nikobe, I think the option to engage volume limiting is something that’s been around for years on most iPod models. Personally, I know it existed as far back as the 10GB iPod with Dock Connector.

In any case, it’s a good suggestion for @breedmitch to look into. Depends on the song, but it does noticeably reduce the volume of music when engaged.

I didn’t mean to manualy engage a volume limit (like volume leveling) I’m talking about an enforced limit placed on European audio devices. My new iPod Classic at max volume isn’t very loud and its well documented issue.