Is It Safe For My Child To Use Earbuds?
Did you notice that your kid loves listening to music and watching online videos on your smartphone? Even though you might not be worried about handing your smartphone to children, it’s quite understandable that you might be wondering if they should use earbuds or not. If you are worried if it is safe for your child to use earbuds, you should be pleased to know that the answer is yes. However, you need to make certain adjustments to the earbuds to ensure that your kids’ little ears are not hurt if they listen to music or watch videos of their favorite YouTube content creators for hours on end.
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What is a safe volume level?
Listening to earbuds all day long is not a problem, but it can be harmful if you do it with the volume set at max. As you can imagine, the impact of loud sounds on children’s ears is more significant than with adults. This is why we need to determine how loud is too loud? Sounds are measured on the decibel (dB) scale. The scale starts at 0 dB, which is total silence. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the safe volume level for the average person is 85 dB for eight hours of a day.
If you or your children listen to music at levels above 85 dB, the World Health Organization says that it is not safe. While high volume levels are damaging to the ear for adults, things can get worse for children. The reason behind this is that young people are still growing, and their ears have yet to fully develop. Listening to music at high volumes will lead to ear damage and hearing loss over time. Therefore, we are advising all parents to limit the volume on the earphones at 85 dB, or even be conservative and go as low as 75 dB.
Wired or Wireless?
Another question that most parents ask themselves when buying earphones for their children is if they should be wired or wireless? The answer is quite simple. You should always pick wireless earphones because they are easier to use, and more importantly, children will have a more difficult time breaking them. If they are wired, there is a high chance the young ones will end up chewing the wire or pulling it at and breaking it. If you do need to purchase a pair of wired earbuds, it’s always best to pick a device that uses a nylon-coated audio cable. This is thanks to the fact that nylon-coated audio cables are durable and tangle-resistant.
Don’t Forget About Comfort
The tricky part about finding a good pair of headphones or earbuds for children is getting one that is comfortable. The best thing that you can do is to purchase a pair that features an adjustable headband. As a result, you will find it much easier to adjust the headphones or earbuds to feel comfortable on your children’s head. Another cool thing about adjustable headbands is that they can be expanded as your child grows. Therefore, you will end up saving money because you are not required to purchase an extra pair.
Colorful Appearance
If there is one thing that all parents can agree about, then it has to be the fact that children love colorful gadgets. The more LEDs and colorful prints that the earphones have, the better! We also want to mention that you can find earbuds for kids that are available in different themes such as Fortnite characters, pirates, and Disney princesses.
Limited Access
Parenting is not easy, and there is no doubt about that. Sometimes, you need to make decisions that your children will not like even though you are acting in their best interest. Giving access to earphones to a kid without any limitation is not wise because more than often, the kid will use them for as long as possible. Therefore, you should create a strict schedule that ensures your kid doesn’t spend all day listening to music with their earphones.
Final Words
In conclusion, it is safe for your child to use earbuds as long as you take precautionary measures. Our advice is to always supervise your children when they are using tech devices to ensure that they are not doing anything bad. We also want to mention that multiple apps will help you provide the best volume levels for children. These apps automatically lower the volume and block the mixer from going higher than 85 dB.