Are Your Child's Earphones Causing Hearing Damage?

As smart phones, MP3 players, handheld games, and other gadgets become a more prolific and permanent part of our society, children are using earphones much more frequently, and for more extended periods of time.

Earbuds in particular have become very popular with kids, teens, and college students. A cheap pair of earbuds is usually included with most smart phones and MP3 players.

If you're not familiar with the terminology, earbuds are small earphones that come in many colors and styles, are worn inside the ear canal, and feature a low profile fit that allows listening in a wide variety of situations. (Many folks get the terms "earphones," "headphones," and "earbuds" confused! Earphones are small speakers that fit inside your ear canals. Headphones have larger speakers that sit over the ears, connected by a headband. Earbuds are just one type of earphone.) Despite their small size, earbuds are usually capable of pumping out just as much sound as their larger counterparts.

The soaring usage of earbuds (and earphones and headphones in general) as accessories for the multitude of new devices which allow us to access music and video content practically anywhere has caused a lot of worry over whether all that listening may be causing hearing damage, especially among young people. Noise-induced hearing loss is cumulative and permanent, so there's a lot of concern circulating about whether or not the kids who use earphones for hours on end to watch videos, listen to music, or play games could be doing serious damage to their ears. And indeed, more than five million kids in the U.S. between the ages of six and 19 report some degree of noise-induced hearing loss.

So are your child's earphones causing hearing damage...?
Unfortunately, the answer isn't a simple yes or no. There are just too many factors to consider. Here are a few:

• First off, all of us -- children and adults alike -- are much more likely to turn up the volume to dangerous levels when we're in a place where there's a lot of background noise. We also naturally tend to listen at more reasonable volumes when there aren't other noises we feel the need to drown out with our own music. So watch where your child is using his or her earphones: your kid is much more likely to be listening at a safe volume if he or she is doing so in reasonably quiet environments.
• Secondly, kids who listen via in-ear style earphones -- including those ever-popular earbuds -- are actually four times less likely to turn the volume up to dangerous levels than kids who listen with over-the-ear headphones.
• Finally, how loud is too loud, anyway? In general, the maximum safe sound dosage limit is eight hours of exposure to 85dB of constant sound in one day. However, most earphones and headphones tend to top out at around 100dB, which is only safe for fifteen minutes of listening during any 24 hour period!

So it is indeed possible that your child's earphone listening habit is causing hearing damage -- but that's not a guarantee, just a possibility. The only way to know for sure is to get involved. Monitor your child's earphone usage habits closely. And if you fear your child may indeed be damaging his or her young ears, there are many solutions available to help combat this problem:

1. If your child is using over-the-ear headphones, switch him or her over to in-ear earphones or earbuds instead.
2. Consider choosing isolation earphones that offer some noise reduction in addition to music listening capabilities. This will help block out many outside sounds, so the volume won't need to be turned up as high in noisy situations for your child to be able to hear the music as clearly as he or she would like to. E-A-R Buds Earphones, for example, feature both noise blocking and a built-in volume limiter, for safe and peaceful listening anywhere.
3. Monitor your child's earphone usage. How many hours a day is your kid plugged in to his or her earphones? If your child listens all day long, make sure the volume is turned down to a safe level. As a very rough rule of thumb, having the volume setting turned about three-quarters of the way up is the maximum limit for long periods of listening with most earphones. (Note: Earphones and sound source devices vary quite a lot, so I highly recommend trying out your child's earphones so you can actually check the volume levels yourself!) Then again, if your child only listens for a couple of hours a day, keeping the volume down isn't quite as critical: over one 24-hour period, two hours of listening to constant sounds as loud as a considerable 90dB is generally considered safe! So you need to consider how much time your child spends listening, not just how loud the volume is.
4. Consider getting earphones with built-in volume limiters. KonoAudio makes KidzSafe Earbuds specially designed for children: the earbuds are a smaller size to fit those little ears, they come in bright colors kids will love, and they also feature a built-in volume limiter that prevents listening at dangerous volumes. Alternatively, add an EarSaver volume limiter to your child's favorite headphones or earphones: this handy little device is a short cable that plugs in between the sound source and the earphones, and keeps the volume down to a safe level. (Tip: A little super glue on the plastic parts when you plug in the volume limiter to the earphones' cable will prevent any mischievous tampering with the volume limiter when you're not watching!)
5. Finally, and most importantly, talk with your child about the very real dangers of noise-induced hearing loss. Not only will this help your child understand why keeping the volume down is important, but starting to have this type of discussion with your child at an early age could also open the door for better communications about hearing health and hazards when your little one grows up and hits those rocky teenage years.

It is possible that earphones could be damaging your child's hearing.

But don't panic: before you pull the plug on your kid's earphones, get involved, monitor your child's actual listening habits, and consider the above solutions for safe earphone listening.

It is possible to ensure that your child's ears stay safe without taking away those earphones -- and with them, the ability to listen to music on all the exciting new devices that have become such a pervasive part of our daily lives.

 

Until next time, be safe and do the right thing.
--Tom Bergman, Marketing Director

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Comments

[Hearing Aids Hertfordshire]

Hearing damage from headphones is probably more common than from loudspeakers, because many people exploit the acoustic isolation by listening at higher volumes. The risk of hearing damage from headphones is higher than with loudspeakers, even at comparable volumes, due to the close coupling of the transducers to the ears. The risk of hearing loss increases as sound is played louder and louder for long durations, so knowing the levels one is listening to music at, and for how long, is extremely important.