Feeling queasy lately? It may be those Bose Acoustic Noise Canceling headphones you just bought that are doing the damage. A recent Q&A in The Wall Street Journal's "Health Mailbox" column suggests that it's possible the $350 headphones can make you motion sick.
A reader wrote to the Mailbox: "I was recently given a pair of Bose QC3 headphones with active noise canceling, and have felt queasy every time I put them on. I had to take them off and lie down at one point, and ended up throwing up later that night and was unable to eat more than apple sauce the next day. "
The columnist responded that it's possible. A doctor speculated that "sound waves that cancel each other out may still transmit enought very low frequency vibrations to stimulate the balance receptors that are connected to the hearing hair cells in the inner ear. These vibrations are akin to those caused by blast explosions or barotrauma in scuba diving, but much less forceful. The disequilibrium that some people may feel from this is made worse because the vibrations falsely signal that the head is moving, but the eyes report that the head is stationary. Those mixed signals make the headphone wearer feel dizzy."
Bose didn't respond to the Journal's requests for comment. The company is probably busy printing up warning stickers. [The Wall Street Journal]
I have some of these, and I'm fine, though sort of prone to motion sickness in the first place. I think I would take the nausea to not hear crazy people on the subway though...