Patent ID: 7003123

Claim:
A system for controlling a volume output by a set of headphones to prevent harmful sound levels from damaging a user's hearing, the system comprising: a volume sensor/controller for determining sound levels from an audio source and comparing the predetermined sound levels to a volume threshold, the volume sensor/controller comprising: a volume calibrator for setting the volume threshold, the volume calibrator comprising: a category selector allowing the user to select between different volume controlling settings matching different user characteristics; and a category data base for storing the sound characteristics for the volume controlling settings, the category data base comprising: a default user setting; an age dependent setting; a listener type setting; and a manually controlled setting; a volume/frequency measurement sensor for representing the determined sound levels as energy functions; and a comparator for comparing the determined sound levels with the volume threshold and notifying a warning indicator that the volume threshold has been exceeded; and a warning indicator for indicating that the determined sound level is outside the volume threshold.