When you have kids, sooner or later they are going to ask you to buy them headphones to use with their gaming systems, computers and music players. There are valid reasons for this, because headphones can improve the experience of these multimedia, but at the same time there are certain characteristics you should look for when you shop.
A significant criteria that plenty of people wouldn’t typically think of is ensuring that the headphones fit correctly. Headphones which are manufactured for grownups are made for their full-sized heads, and won’t only not fit the right way on kids, they won’t offer a full range of sound to them. Children might also wind up breaking headphones that are too big for their heads by constantly repositioning or adjusting them. To assist with this, quite a few headphones created for kids include flexible head straps, making it simpler to get a good first fitting, and to adjust that fit as children grow up.
A second characteristic you should look for – and the most important – is some form of Sound Limiting Technology. Kids will be kids, and will likely want to play music and games at the highest volume possible; the fact is that, this can cause ear damage and hearing loss. Seeking out headphones which have a built-in volume limit – around 80 to 85 decibels – is the most effective way to combat this propensity. The volume level limit suggestion applies to both headphones that fit over the ears and ear buds, although it is perhaps more significant for the ear buds which sit inside ears.
One more factor take into consideration is durability, because children are hard on delicate things, and certain headphones can be quite fragileindeed. Refer to consumer guides or parents’ magazines to learn which brands of headphones have a good reputation for ruggedness and long lives. It is best to balance this desire for durability with a bias toward light weight, because you really do not want your children to be running around wearing headphones that are overweight for their body size.
No matter which brand of headphones you ultimately pick, try to restrict your children’s use of them to a few hours a day. Remember the fact that noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is caused by both the volume level and length of the sound exposure. Even with the Sound Limiting Technology, too many hours using headphones may cause hearing damage.
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