Despite the past reports and rumors that claimed iPods could interfere with the heart peacemakers, a new study conducted by Howard Bassen, a researcher with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, Md, demonstrated the contrary.

The claims that linked iPods to heart peacemakers appeared after a cardiac pacient reported dizziness while using an Apple’s MP3 players. Cardiologists operated an iPod during the patient’s examination, and noted interference with the pacemaker.

Also, last year in May, Jay Thaker, a Okemos High School in Okemos, Michigan, has evaluated the effects of iPods on 100 patients, whose mean age was 77, outfitted with pacemakers.

He detected electromagnetic interferences half of the time when the iPod was held just 2 inches from the patient's chest for 5 to 10 seconds. Thaker’s results were presented at the Heart Rhythm Society annual meeting in Denver.

But now Howard Bassen measured the magnetic fields produced by four different iPod models: a fourth-generation iPod and an iPod with video, and an iPod nano and iPod shuffle. They also measured the voltages delivered inside the pacemaker by the magnetic fields from the iPods. All measurements indicated there would be no effects on users with cardiac pacemakers.

In order to measure the magnetic field produced by the iPod at a distance of around 5 to 10 millimeters, Bassen’ team used a 3-coil sensor

They obtained readings for the magnetic field at various specific and small regions 10 mm from an iPod. The peak magnetic field strength was 0.2 millionths of a Tesla, a value hundreds of times lower than the levels capable of interfering with a pacemaker.

"Based on the observations of our in-vitro study we conclude that no interference effects can occur in pacemakers exposed to the iPods we tested," Bassen concluded.