Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Hardware

Some Children's Headphones Raise Concerns of Hearing Loss, Report Says (go.com) 77

Some headphones marketed for children may not restrict enough noise for young ears. From a report on ABC: The Wirecutter, a technology products review website (owned by the New York Times), tried out 30 different children's headphones for style, fit and safety by using both a plastic model ear and a few real children. "There's no governing board that oversees this," Lauren Dragan, the Headphone Editor at The Wirecutter, told "Good Morning America" in an interview that aired today. Dragan added that the headphones for children all claim to limit volume to around 85 decibels. Sound below the 85 decibel mark for a maximum of eight hours is considered safe, according to the World Health Organization. The Wirecutter report found that some of these headphones emit sound higher than the 85 decibel mark. The full report here.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Some Children's Headphones Raise Concerns of Hearing Loss, Report Says

Comments Filter:
  • by wjcofkc ( 964165 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @04:32PM (#53435865)
    When I was a kid back in late 80's early 90's, I was constantly listening to Megadeth on my Walkman with the volume cranked up all the way. I paid the price for that. Now in my adult life people get frustrated when I can't hear them. I can easily trace the decline in my hearing back to my Walkman days. As near as I can tell, no one at the time thought it was serious matter at all.

    I still listen to Megadeth though.
    • by I75BJC ( 4590021 )
      Actually, the Warning was sounded and your generation as a whole choose to ignore the warning. I was a young adult during those years and remember the Warning and the refusals. Quite typical of Young People. In my day, headphones were too expensive to wear outside.
      • by khr ( 708262 )

        generation as a whole choose to ignore the warning

        I don't know about ignoring the warning. There was no ignorance. It was more like willfully disregarding the warning because listening to music quietly is simply not cool. Not cool at all.

    • My fellow metal brother, I am with you. I was known in high school as the fat shy kid who wore the big (circumaural) headphones all the time. I was in my own world.

      Now, after many earplug-free concerts and a lot more maximum volume listening, I too have some issues hearing people.

      I also continue to listen to Megadeth... though my tastes have shifted more toward the prog metal (mostly European) genres.

      • A lot of my friends still refuse to wear earplugs at concerts, even REALLY GODDAMN FUCKING LOUD DEATH METAL SHOWS.

        I learned my lessen, and while my hearing is a bit damaged, I'm doing my best to not damage it any further.

    • by wbr1 ( 2538558 )
      I do not regret listening to Good Mourning/Black Friday at full blast. Even if it caused damage. I am in my 40s now, and just this year I was at shows for GnR, Sabbath, Tool, Alice in Chains,Mastodon, and Gojira, all ranging from loud to very loud. All with no hearing protection. I still hear well enough, and will enjoy it while it lasts. I was gifted with exceptional hearing range though, and can still hear much higher frequencies than others my age (but not like when I was younger).
      • by wjcofkc ( 964165 )

        Good Mourning/Black Friday

        Word. That was exactly the song I was thinking of when I wrote the OP. I find it unusual that I can also hear very high frequencies that others can't.

    • So if there had been some kind of Parents Advisory Council telling you to turn down the volume of your Megadeth, you'd have listened? Gimme a break, that wouldn't have happened. Meekly obeying authority figures? Shah right. "If it's too loud, you're too old" was the heavy metal motto.
    • by arth1 ( 260657 )

      I listened to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Motorhead and pretty much anything loud. Including concerts. And I play electric guitar.
      Yet I lie awake at night because a neighbor snores, or the aquarium fish flips its fin at the other side of the house, or the blood coursing through my veins, or the hum of a lamp, or even cats walking across the carpet in the room above mine.
      If anything, listening to so much loud music has made me overly sensitive, and I have to sleep with ear plugs. Not that it helps when th

    • Now in my adult life people get frustrated when I can't hear them.

      Then get some hearing aids!

    • HELLO? WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY, SONNY? You listen to Smegmabreath? What an odd name for a band. NOW GET OFF MY LAWN
  • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @04:46PM (#53435957)

    Buy some noise cancelling earphones. You can tell people over and over again about hearing loss but it won't matter if they can't hear that music over background noise of the noisy bus they are on.

    Noise cancelling / closed cup earphones will just make you naturally turn down the volume.

    • by sims 2 ( 994794 )

      Yep you have three options to deal with room noise or just one if you have shitty headphones (or earbuds).

      1. TURN UP THE VOLUME SO YOU CAN HEAR YOUR MUSIC OVER THE BUS NOISE. CHEAP.

      2. Have good noise cancelling headphones then you can listen at a lower volume and still hear your music. Expensive & batteries or an extra device to charge.

      3. Have good Isolating headphones then you can listen at a lower volume and still hear your music. Expensive.

      Kids headphones are probably on the cheap end of the spectrum

  • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @04:48PM (#53435977)

    What?

  • and want their news back.

  • Every set of headphones should have a label... "Warning, if you are STUPID enough, to turn the volume to 11, do not come crying to us saying our headphones made you deaf. We do not reward STUPIDITY". Screw political correctness!
  • somebody needs to create a set of headphones (in both normal and "sport" versions) that
    1 blocks outside noise (or filters it below danger levels))

    2 includes a way for a Guardian/Other Caretaker to send sounds into the headset (even if its a Attn! Chirp)

    3 compresses the dynamic range to cut the need to crank the volume

    4 clips the top end of volume

  • It regulates maximum sensitivity of a passive headphone - and maximum SPL for a wireless headphone (or any headphone in wireless mode). It's only required in France right now - recommended in the rest of the EU, and ignored in the rest of the world. It also sets the max SPL at 100 dB.
    • The problem is that devices have widely different output levels. Some mobile devices put out less than 1Vrms maximum, but headphone amps can output as high as 3Vrms. If you scale the headphone sensitivity to the mobile device, the headphone amp will play really goddamn loud, but if you scale them to the headphone amp, you will barely be able to hear anything from the mobile device.

      What should ideally be brought to market, are headphones with limiters/compressors built in, so the maximum sound level delivere

You know you've landed gear-up when it takes full power to taxi.

Working...