The threat posed to your pacemaker by your iPod may have been cleared by no less than the FDA, but that doesn’t mean that you can go listen to your music willy-nilly. The player itself might be harmless, but perhaps you’re forgetting about that most dangerous of accessories: the headphone.
According to a researcher at the Medical Device Safety Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center (the hospital at which I was born, I must point out, so clearly their track record is beyond reproach), the magnets in headphones can affect pacemakers or implanted defibrillators. Fortunately, in order for that to happen, the headphones need to be held very close to the device in question: namely, right over the heart. So, in other words, don’t keep your earbuds in your front shirt pocket.
“I certainly don’t think people should overreact to this information,” [said study leader Dr. William Maisel] but it’s smart to keep small electronics at least a few inches from implanted medical devices, and not let someone wearing headphones lean against your chest if you have one, he said.
“The headphone interaction applies whether or not the headphones are plugged in to the music player and whether or not the music player is on or off,” he added.
Well, there you go, then. But really, as I think we all know, the only safe thing for you to do is start using your iPod with no headphones at all.
"...and not let someone wearing headphones lean against your chest if you have one..."
Is he saying that some people don't have chests? ;-)