More than a billion young people are putting their hearing at risk by wearing loud headphones, warns the WHO, but these new Kiddiez Volume Limiter promise to protect your child's hearin.
More than a billion young people are risking their hearing by listening
to music too loud, warns the World Health Organisation. And if you ever
sit near them on a train you’ll believe it.
In wealthier countries almost 50 per cent of people aged between 12 and
35 years old are exposed to “unsafe levels of sound” from their
headphones, it says.
Dr Etienne
Krug, WHO Director for the Department for Management of Noncommunicable
Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention, said: “As they go
about their daily lives doing what they enjoy, more and more young
people are placing themselves at risk of hearing loss. They should be
aware that once you lose your hearing, it won’t come back.”
The WHO suggests young people can protect themselves by using
well-fitted headphones, maybe even noise-cancelling models, to limit the
need for high volume. But the main preventative step is just not to
turn them up loud. Something which is all too tempting to ignore for a
young mind unconcerned with consequences years or even decades down the
line.
But there is a simple way to get
peace of mind: buy your children headphones which don’t allow them to
listen at unsafe levels. Remove the ability for them to damage their
hearing before they realise how important it is, and have one less thing
to worry about.
The Kiddiez Volume Limiter from GROOV-E only go up to 85db – that’s the level recommended as the safe limit for long exposure by the WHO.
They were passed around the Telegraph office, turned up full, and people admitted that they regularly listened to their music louder than that. So perhaps adults need their own version of these, too.
In terms of quality, they’re acceptable. At just £12.99 they were never going to be great, but it’s unlikely that a 12-year-old listening to One Direction or watching Hunger Games will have any complaints. Apart, maybe, from it not being loud enough. But that’s the point.
They’re rather cheaply put together (again, I’d refer you to the £12.99 cost) but feel strong enough to put up with the rough treatment they’ll surely endure being dragged around by a child. The cord is thoughtfully much shorter than on normal headphones.
In reality, they are little different from any one of dozens of competitors: cheap, plastic, garish - except that these ones can’t harm your child’s ears. For that reason alone they’re the best option out there.
The Kiddiez Volume Limiter from GROOV-E only go up to 85db – that’s the level recommended as the safe limit for long exposure by the WHO.
They were passed around the Telegraph office, turned up full, and people admitted that they regularly listened to their music louder than that. So perhaps adults need their own version of these, too.
In terms of quality, they’re acceptable. At just £12.99 they were never going to be great, but it’s unlikely that a 12-year-old listening to One Direction or watching Hunger Games will have any complaints. Apart, maybe, from it not being loud enough. But that’s the point.
They’re rather cheaply put together (again, I’d refer you to the £12.99 cost) but feel strong enough to put up with the rough treatment they’ll surely endure being dragged around by a child. The cord is thoughtfully much shorter than on normal headphones.
In reality, they are little different from any one of dozens of competitors: cheap, plastic, garish - except that these ones can’t harm your child’s ears. For that reason alone they’re the best option out there.
