Wearing iPods Can Make Lightning Strike Injuries Worse

Contrary to popular myth, using a cell phone or iPod headphones during an electrical storm will not attract lightning. But, say doctors who wrote a report in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine this week, the devices can create a channel for electricity that could make lightning-strike injuries much worse.

The letter includes information about the case of a Canadian man who was struck by lightning while jogging with his iPod in 2005. The lightning hit a nearby tree and then "snaked" to the jogger.

Dr. Eric Heffernan, lead author of the study quoted in the NEJM letter, told reporters, "Most people hit by lightning get away with minor burns," adding that skin is usually a bad conductor of electricity. But when a person is holding or wearing an electronic device like a cell phone or an iPod, that changes everything.

The jogger in the story suffered severe burns that traced the shape of the iPod headphone cords on his body, as well as on his hip where the iPod was attached. In addition, he experience major injuries to his jaw and ears, where he had the earbuds.

"In this case, the victim had earphones on and had been sweating from jogging so this was a case of disrupted flashover, and the earphones transmitted the electrical current into his head," said Heffernan to reporters. "It’s the first time we’ve had a recorded case of such an incident involving a person wearing headphones and we think the public should be warned."

Unofficial cases include an 18-year-old man who suffered a Y-shaped burn to his torso and ear damage when he was listening to an iPod while mowing the lawn during a storm, as well as several incidents of people who were struck by lightning while using cell phones.

Dr. Heffernan emphasized that caution should be exercised while using iPods and similar devices, but that wearing them does not increase one’s chances of being struck by lightning.

Emergency room physician Mary Ann Cooper agrees. "It’s going to hit where it’s going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity," said Cooper to reporters.

"Using things like this, a mobile phone or an iPod, there isn’t actually an increased risk," said Heffernan. "But we just suggest that if you are unlucky enough to be hit by lightning while listening to anything with earphones, you many be more likely to do yourself some damage."

As for the injured jogger, he still has residual hearing loss two years after the accident. Dr. Heffernan told the Washington Post in a telephone interview, "He still jogs, and he bought a new iPod after the accident, but he leaves it at home now when he goes jogging."