Pacemaker patients who love portable music devices should not wear or carry their earbuds in such a way that they are near the implant site. That can interfere with their pacemaker's ability to function! Interference can affect your pacemaker, but there are a few simple steps to perform to prevent it or--if it happens--to get things back to normal quickly.
A recent news report suggested that pacemaker patients who used portable music players sometimes encountered a problem with their pacemakers called interference. The problem wasn't with the music player itself, but rather with the earbuds. Earbuds stored close to the implanted pacemaker can interfere with the pacemaker.
The surprising aspect to this report was that the music player did not have to be playing or even turned on for interference to occur and that the interference did not come from the device but rather from the harmless-looking earbuds. Up till now, it was thought that devices turned off or to some kind of passive setting did not pose an interference risk.
What the study looks like is that if a person has a portable music player, such as an iPod (iPod is just one of the best known types but there are many grands) and if the earbuds used with the device are placed in close proximity to the the upper chest area where the pacemaker is implanted, the earbuds might interfere with the device.
This is not a far-fetched scenario. When a person with this kind of portable music player is not listening to it, it's not unusual to drape the earbuds over the neck (sort of like the way doctors "wear" a stethoscope). That can put the earbuds right over the implant site.
Apparently, interference does not occur when the earbuds are in the ears or when the earbuds are kept away from the implant site--such as in a purse or backpack or even hip pocket.
Interference occurs when signals in the air get picked up by the pacemaker. Pacemakers have very "big ears." They listen for electrical signals. In fact, that is how pacemakers monitor the heart--they track its electrical activity and respond to it. While this normally works pretty well, an occasional stray electrical signal can cause the pacemaker to "think" it is hearing something the heart is doing when, in reality, it is sensing electrical interference, something doctors have nicknamed "noise."
Most pacemaker patients are told to avoid the most common sources of interference--things like arc welding equipment, bumper cars, industrial magnets, and being very close to high-tension lines. However, stray signals can sometimes interfere with pacemaker performance. Stray signals can come from small electronic devices (like earbuds), metal detectors, dentists' drills and so on. While such interference is not common, it can occur.
Interference is often temporary. The pacemaker may start pacing or acting inappropriately because it doesn't interpret the stray signals correctly, but if the source of interference is removed, the pacemaker typically resumes normal operation. If a pacemaker person starts to feel lightheaded, woozy, or just peculiar in situations where they may be potential interference (around heavy machinery, certain power tools, security checkpoints), just stepping out of range can stop the interference.
Pacemakers are sensitive, but not all that sensitive. A source of interference far from a pacemaker patient does not pose a risk. For instance, most pacemaker manufacturers advise pacemaker people not to "linger" under a metal detector, but pacemaker patients do not have to avoid going near them.
If interference persists over a long time, the pacemaker may do something called "reset" or "backup" or "safety pacing." (Different manufacturers have different names for this function--which is very similar across all brands of pacemakers.) When prolonged interference is suspected, the pacemaker automatically switches to a less sensitive type of pacing called "asynchronous pacing." Asynchronous pacing is not the most sophisticated pacing prescription, but it gets the job done--it assures regular consistent pacing support.
If a pacemaker patient is exposed to interference long enough to "reset" the pacemaker, he or she will need to go to the pacemaker doctor to get the pacemaker reprogrammed. This is a very short and painless step that involves the doctor turning off the reset function and pushing a button on a remote device called a programmer to resume the old settings.
Pacemaker patients who love their portable music players need to take a few simple precautions. Now if having and using a portable music player is part of your lifestyle that you really cannot live without, you should make an appointment to discuss with your pacemaker doctor how to do this as safely as possible. On the other hand, just keeping the earbuds from your music player away from the pacemaker ... even if the device is not playing or turned off ... you should not experience any "noise" or interference.
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