Worried About Your Child's Hearing: Check These Tips On How To Protect It!

Hearing loss or hearing damage is something that can be prevented, but unfortunately - not always. It greatly depends on the factor of the damage which can be either age related or noise related. Although we can’t completely take care of the damage caused by old age, we can definitely take control of other factors like damage caused by exposure to loud noises. And it would be best to start taking care at early age. This is the point where we as parents have to o something. 

Children are generally unaware of the damaging effects of loud sounds. This is why you have to take an active role in protecting your child’s hearing. Read through the tips we have prepared for you.

1. Teach your kid that hearing is important. 

If you child becomes aware of how important hearing is, it will start taking care of it. Don’t expect them to start taking care immediately. It will take some time until they develop some healthy listening habits. But the key element is to be persistent and monitor your child. Talk to your child frequently about the negative effects of loud sounds. You can ask your child to tell you more about its favorite sounds or music. How would he or she feel if it could never hear them again? You will be surprised with their answers.

2. Identify dangerous sound levels. 

Maybe your child loves listening to their favorite songs very loud using headphones or earphones. Most often they do listen to very loud music or play their favorite games on maximum volume. However, it is important for them to know when loud becomes too loud. 

Generally, you can’t precisely tell how much decibels are you currently listening to. However, there are some apps you can install on your child’s smartphone and limit the maximum volume level and stay safe.

3. Choose their headphones wisely. 

Almost all headphones and earphones can cause hearing damage if used inappropriately. However, there are some specific types designed to make the habit of listening to music much healthier and with hearing protection in mind. 

For example, noise-cancelling headphones eliminate the surrounding sounds which may make your child unintentionally increase the volume. Without these sounds you child will be able to listen to its favorite songs at lower volumes. 

If you plan to take your baby or toddler to a sports event or a concert where it can get really loud you shouldn’t go without noise-canceling baby headphones. 

There are also output limiting headphones. These are designed to take care of the maximum volume music is being listened to. These are great if you child can’t regulate the volume on its own. 

Whatever type of headphones you choose for your child you will still need to monitor and control it. 

4. Set some rules. 

One of the reasons of hearing damage is listening to loud sounds for a longer period of time. Therefore it would be best to limit the time your children spend listening to music at higher volumes. 

There is a rule for all listeners named 80/90 rule. This practically means the volume shouldn’t be over 80% and the time limit should be 90 minutes per day. If you find taking care of the time and volume levels too difficult to take care of, and then teach you kid to know when the loud is too loud. Practically if your child can’t hear you speaking while you are very close to it, then it’s too loud.

We are all trying to be the best parents possible. We take care of our children on many different levels, from the food they eat and medications they take, to taking care of their hearing and protecting them from the dangers of loud sounds. The best thing we can do in order to protect our children’s hearing is to teach them to lower down the volume when the music is too loud and walk away from very loud sounds. At the beginning they will need our help, but later you will enjoy when you see you child really takes care of its hearing.