How To Protect Your Kids Ears From Constant Headphone Use
Whether you’re talking about headphones or earphones, there’s little difference concerning the long term damage caused by overexposure.
In today’s world especially, headphones offer our children an escape from the demands of everyday life while acting as an excellent home learning aid.
But, the constant use of headphones is one of the world’s biggest contributors to long term hearing loss.
If your child does use headphones constantly, there are some simple preventative measures you can take to protect their ears from irreversible damage—and as Perth’s trusted hearing specialists, we’re going to explore them now.
Set a safe decibel level
Most headphones are capped at the 70 or 80 dBA mark. This is deemed to be a safe decibel level for listening to music and media.
But, while this is a suitable hearing level, constant exposure to this level of sound over time can cause hearing damage over time.
To prevent this from happening, you should help you child to understand the impact of being exposed to continually high sound volumes and work with them to set a ‘safe maximum limit’ (60% of the maximum capacity is usually the sweet spot) when using their headphones.
Alternatively, you could invest in a pair of headphones that are capped at a lower decibel level than 70 to 80 dBA.
Check for headphone bleed or spill
Another effective way of checking whether your kid’s headphones are up too loud is by listening out for any bleed or spill.
When your kid has their headphones on, if you can hear any sound bleeding or spilling from their headphones from where you’re sitting, you will be able to ensure they turn them down to a suitable level and avoid harming their hearing.
Establish headphone usage time frames
Constant headphone use is not advisable for anyone, especially not children. So, to protect your children from the dangers of constant headphone use, you should set usage limits.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), you should limit your child’s headphone time to one hour a day. You can use this advice as general guidance when setting your child’s usage limit.
Book a professional hearing test
If you’re concerned about your kid’s hearing in any way, you should book a professional hearing test to identify any potential issues and take measures to tackle them.
At Hearing & Audiology, we are experts in our field and we specialise in children’s hearing tests and treatment.
Benefits of testing your children’s hearing with Hearing & Audiology…
- We are internationally certified and accredited hearing specialists
- We boast a range of state-of-the-art hearing solutions
- We have over 34 years of professional industry experience
- We offer a service tailored to the specific needs of our clients
If you’re looking for a children’s hearing expert near you, call us on (08) 9388 8003 or fill out our contact form for a free report. We look forward to helping you.