The European Commission has come up with new volume standards that will govern how loud portable music players can be, a move that will prevent hearing damage.

Hearing at around 85 decibels is safe but some MP3 players can play music up to about 120 decibels.

Meglena Kuneva, the consumer affairs commissioner for European Union, said, "It's easy to push up the sound levels on your MP3 player to damagingly loud levels, especially on busy streets or public transport."

The desired standards will require some technical changes in MP3 devices such as iPods to make them play at safe volume by default.

According to an estimate around 10 million people in Europe could suffer deafness due to the high sound level that hits straight their tympans via their earphones.

The new reulations will also include a health warning to make people aware of the risks if they override the default settings.