At what age can you give your child headphones? How long can they be used per day? How to choose headphones that are safe for kids' hearing? These questions were answered by Dr. Komarovsky.
Headphones in the modern world have become an integral part of our life. We listen to music in transport and while jogging, communicate through headphones on the phone and at working online conferences. Children use this gadget almost as often as adults. According to recent studies, today half of primary school children and almost two-thirds of adolescents listen to music with headphones daily for more than two hours. How it can be dangerous for hearing, how much time a child can spend wearing headphones, and which ones bring children less harm, he said on his Youtube channel Dr. Komarovsky.
The main problem that leads to uncontrolled and frequent use of headphones in children is high-frequency hearing loss. In simple terms, the child ceases to perceive high-range sounds. “Hearing begins to gradually decrease and is lost, first of all, in the area that perceives high frequencies,” explains Dr. Komarovsky. - How can this be noticed? The child does not just ask again, he does not perceive high tones well. For example, mom hears worse than dad. Also, the child may perceive poorly high-pitched children's voices, or poorly hears birdsong. "
It is highly undesirable for kids to listen to music with headphones / istockphoto.com
The sooner you introduce your child to the headphones, the higher the risk of provoking high frequency hearing loss in the child. The biggest danger in this case is that the disease develops gradually and imperceptibly, so that an adult cannot control this. Therefore, it is highly undesirable to give headphones to children under 5 years of age. Even under your watchful eye. Starting from 5-7 years old, the baby can listen to music on headphones for no more than an hour a day (preferably broken down into half hours, or even better - 15 minutes each) and provided that the sound is no louder than 70-80 decibels.
How to listen to music with headphones correctly
High-frequency hearing loss is irreversible, emphasizes Dr. Komarovsky. In this situation, there are no pills or ear drops that can restore hearing ability organism. To avoid this problem, you need to follow a few simple rules. First of all, regularly undergo a special examination at the ENT - an audiogram of the state of hearing. Young children need to do it if they are at risk: for example, they listen to music on headphones every day for more than an hour a day. But for adolescents, Dr. Komarovsky recommends to undergo an audiogram at least three times: at 14, at 16 and at 20 years old.
The second rule is the 60/60 principle. “When you set the volume slider on a child’s smartphone, it should be no higher than 60%,” the pediatrician recommends. "After 60 minutes of listening, you need to take a break and let your ears rest for at least 60 minutes."
The maximum permissible volume level for an adult is no higher than 85 decibels. For a child, it should be less: for example, at a level of 70 dB in headphones, it is allowed to listen to no more than 5-6 tracks per day. Do not neglect this recommendation - they say, there is no difference, 10 decibels there or 10 decibels here. Loudness indicators are non-linear, and 80 dB will be twice as loud as 70 dB, and a sound with a power of 90 dB will be four times louder than a child can handle.
How to choose headphones for a child
Child needs noise canceling on-ear headphones / istockphoto.com
The third rule of thumb for how to prevent high frequency hearing loss in a child is choosing quality headphones. There are two very important nuances here at once. Komarovsky recommends that children buy only on-ear headphones. First, they are much more physiological than in-ear headphones. In on-ear headphones, the entire auricle participates in the formation of sound. That is, the sound resonates as nature intended. Secondly, in-ear headphones are simply less hygienic. They collect a lot of bacteria (especially if they are lying around without packaging in a backpack or pocket), and in the middle, near the membrane, residues constantly accumulate earwax. When inserted tightly into the ear, this greatly increases the risk of various infections getting into the auricle.
The second important rule when choosing headphones for your child is to buy headphones with a noise canceling system. “These are headphones that block external noises programmably, according to their design,” explains Dr. Komarovsky. - It is the external noises that make people make the sound louder. But when there is a noise reduction system, we can not turn the volume to full and perceive sounds quite comfortably. Therefore, a big request to the parents: if you have already gone to meet the child and give him headphones, do not skimp on their quality. "
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