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Will Your Headphones Explode?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 28, 2017  | 
Perhaps you remember the story from two weeks ago. A woman (pictured) wearing headphones on a plane was burned when the headphones exploded and caught fire. The woman was relatively okay, but it's never good when a piece of gear catches fire, especially when it's on a plane and especially if it's near your face. With the rise of battery-powered headphones, are in-ear explosions yet another thing to worry about?

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Worshipping at the Altar of Brick and Mortar
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 07, 2017  | 
I remember it like it was only yesterday, but in reality it was probably more like 30 years ago. I walked into my favorite hi-fi store—the one on Dixie Highway. The owner greeted me by name. He was very active as a recording engineer for classical-music groups, and a trusted name in audio. His inventory was pretty high-end and a little spendy for a lowly college professor like me, but we had done some critical listening together and I greatly respected his opinions.
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Would You Like a Rolex With That?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 07, 2012  | 

Michael Jackson is back in the news, and as usual, not in a good way. This time, at least, it’s no fault of his own. Rather, it’s his employer, Sony, who assumes the blame. It was imprudently careless with the keys to Jackson’s bank vault.

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Yes, Deepfake Audio is Now a Thing
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jun 08, 2020  | 
Well, it's official. I am throwing in the towel. My worldview has been shaken, stirred, crumbled, kneaded, blown apart, and reduced to its elemental atoms. Actually, at this point I'm down to the subatomic level. I think I just saw a quark go by.

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You Can Pry My Headphone Jack From My Cold, Dead Hands
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Aug 23, 2016  | 
Why does everyone suddenly hate the headphone jack?

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You Can't Have TeslaMic
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 07, 2022  | 
I have bad news for you. Really bad news. The TeslaMic is sold out. I know – it is soul crushing. Your dreams of karaoke world domination have been shattered.

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You Talkin’ To Me? Well I’m The Only One Here.
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Dec 22, 2011  | 

What is the Great American Pastime? Baseball? Football? Soccer? Actually, it’s none of those. Our great pastime is sitting passively and yelling as other people actively run around. And while shouting from the bleachers is fun, it’s even more fun to sit and shout at the TV.

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You Will Love Channel 1984
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 02, 2012  | 

“There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. . . . But at any rate, they could plug into your wire whenever they wanted to.”

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You, Your TV, and the FBI
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Dec 02, 2019  | 
Wow! Congratulations! You sure got a good deal on that jumbo-sized TV! Black Friday deals rule! But you know what? It's a new TV, you might not be familiar with its operation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation would like to have a word with you.

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Young People Losing Their Hearing to Awful Earbuds
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Nov 03, 2010  | 

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that one in five American teenagers has some irreversible hearing loss. That’s bad. Even worse, the number of teens with slight hearing loss has increased 30% in the last 15 years, and the number with mild or worse loss is up 77%.

I’m sure your first thought upon hearing that was the same as mine: Bring me the snack foods!

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Your Call is Important to Us. A Representative Will Be With You Shortly.
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Oct 07, 2019  | 
You call them. They put you on hold. That's bad enough. Then they play the cheesy on-hold music. That makes it worse. But even that's not as bad as the actual sound quality of the music. Oh. My. Lord.

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Your ICE Car is the Next LP
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Nov 25, 2019  | 
You have absolutely no idea how hip you are. Seriously. No idea. Well, what I mean is that if you time-traveled yourself 30 years into the future, you would be really hip. Maybe not now, but in 2049 you will be awesome.
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Your Phone Might Help Save Your Kid's Hearing
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jun 12, 2019  | 
As everyone knows, an ear infection is nothing to joke about. And as every parent knows, the plight of a toddler with an ear infection can be downright scary and diagnosing it isn't easy. There may soon be an app for that.

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Your Smart Speaker is a Dunce
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  May 28, 2019  | 
You can use your smart speaker to play music, tell you a joke, and even make phone calls. But you can't use it to call 911. That's not so smart, is it?

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[Your Name Here] Audio Corporation
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Oct 20, 2015  | 
When we think of audio companies, images of tall buildings, rows of cubicles, and loading docks usually come to mind. And it’s true that many audio companies are still like that. But a more contemporary image of an audio company would be you in your pajamas. You see, technology manufacturing isn’t what it used to be.
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