There has been debate about whether headphones are safe for our kids. Here’s everything you need to know.

School Headphones Safe for Student’s Hearing
If you are worried about your child’s hearing, you’re not the only one. The debate over whether headphones hurt children’s ears has raged on for decades. Ever since the first Walkman graced our pockets, those concerned about deafness were warning us not to listen to them too loudly. The fact is that science has now proven headphones can damage children’s hearing. However, school headphones should not be branded as in the same category as standard headphones.

Headphones Can Hurt Your Child’s Hearing
Science has already proven that headphones have a negative impact on children’s hearing. There is a link between ear infections and hearing loss, and ear infections caused by unclean headphones. Headphones should be cleaned regularly to prevent this. In a classroom environment, headphones are cleaned between uses. This is not the case at home.

Children’s models of headphones sold in the USA are limited to the 85 decibel mark. However, this is still a little loud. In an interview with the NYTimes, an associate professor of environmental health at the University of Michigan said that 85 decibels should not be treated as a safe volume. Rick Neitzel pointed out that frequency and duration of use, as well as other factors, are detrimental to your child’s hearing when using headphones.

But School Headphones and Standard Headphones are NOT The Same
The saving grace here is that the headphones you buy for your child and the bulk 10 pack of headphones your school buys, are not the same thing.

If we look at Barks Tech classroom headphones for example, we can see that they are volume limited to prevent hearing loss in the classroom. They come with the advice that a teacher does not use them extensively throughout the day. They have all the comfort and features needed for all day use, but classrooms use headphones as a tool for blended learning. They are an inclusivity tool for children with learning difficulties and can improve both focus and retention of information.

Your school has a duty to prevent the spread of coronavirus and other diseases. To do this, they must thoroughly clean things like sets of headphones between students. This means that the headphones used in schools and classrooms are often cleaner than the headsets used at home.

Headphones in the Classroom have Benefits to Learning
Lastly, we must consider the multiple learning opportunities that headphones bring to the classroom. They help auditory processing, give assistance to kids with attention disorders and dyslexia, and can work as a tool for ear-reading. Some students even focus better when listening to music.

Headphones allow students to focus entirely on the teacher’s voice. They can include noise reduction, which phases out the background noise while the student listens. This decreases distractions. Students therefore see the headphones and know that they are about to embark upon a period of quiet time and silent study. In short, headphones in the classroom make learning easier, and that’s something we need to learn to embrace.