The niece is 8 and the nephew 12.5. I’m thinking about getting them decent headphones as Christmas presents. I’m looking for musically good headphones, ones which will protect their developing ears, rather then ones in ‘kid’ colours. And ones that keep the sound in - to protect their parents! Do you have any recommendations?
My honest recommendation is the Bose QuietComfort noise-cancelling headphones, for several reasons:
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They are of high audio quality. Not prone to distortion and not particularly designed for maximum loudness (i.e. harsh in the treble).
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They isolate outside sound, which allows your children to listen at moderate volumes and still hear everything. Part of the problem with people who experience hearing damage from loud listening on headphones is that in order to hear the music they crank up the volume to drown out ambient external sound. Because the Bose do an excellent job at isolating external sound, they can listen at safe volumes without having to turn it up just to hear the music.
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They are closed-back design, which means they will not leak much so that others (their parents, for instance) will be bothered.
All in all, they are very expensive, but in my opinion protecting their hearing, especially at a young age, is of paramount importance. The Bose QC are the gold standard.
And cost near their weight in gold too! £250 apiece is a lot more money than I had in mind!
For what it’s worth, children should not use headphones. There is a strong tendency to turh them up too loud, and some studies have shown that by college age, at least half of all people exhibit permanent hearing loss through exposure to loud noises in the modern environment.
I missed the 5-minute ogre, but here is a link to support my previous post above:
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Some experts have suggested that increased rates of hearing loss in young adults may be due to the widespread use of personal music players. This study did find that the highest levels of high-frequency hearing loss were in male students who said they used personal music players.*
I wonder how something like these might work:
http://www.etymotic.com/ek5.html
They’re too expensive for my budget, but I don’t know what yours is.
My kids want earbuds instead of headphones. In the past, I’ve gotten them “safe” headphones that can’t be turned up past a certain volume, but they didn’t like them.
Quartz, what is your budget? A decent pair can be had from $29 and up… I would look at Sennhieser, Audio Technica and AKG as they both make some great products that won’t break the bank. Beats are vastly overpriced as headphones, but if they want a heavily marketed lifestyle accessory…
I would avoid earbuds as they are the most likely to cause hearing damage.
Hmm… I would suggest that indicates a parental control / education issue.
I was thinking of the region of £50 each. Do you have any views on the Sennheiser PX-100 II headphones?
Edit: the black version is far cheaper.
Excellent headphones! I was actually considering them for myself but ended up getting a set of Audio Technica noise cancelling closed ears for travelling.
The PX100 are open-air headphones that provide zero isolation from outside sounds. They’re good for home use but useless and dangerous on a bus or airplane.
DB Logic headphones and earbuds get good reviews for sound quality earbuds, headphones and limit the SPL to 85dB. It should be noted that for many years 85 dB has been the mark at which constant exposure has been proven to cause permanent damage. So it’s loud enough, for example if you have to raise your voice to be heard by someone 4 feet away the ambient noise is about 85 dB.
Good point. That was also why I didn’t go with them for my travel needs.
This may be a better choice. Nabi headphones.
I haven’t used these but a cursory glance shows most people have been pretty happy with them, and they have a selector switch to limit the volume which for kids is important.
The Nabi headphones do not appear to be available over here. Leastwise, not at reasonable prices. Most of the noise-limiting microphones on Amazon look dreadfully cheap and flimsy. Amazon do an Audio Technica headphone for £33.
I think not keeping outside sounds out might actually be preferable - they’ll need to hear when their parents call them - but I’d appreciate advice.
It’s too bad the Nabis aren’t easily available. If they are primarily for home then the Sennheisers may be the way to go, especially as the fold up and can be put away neatly. I would advise the parents to make sure that any source they are plugged into be volume limited if you go with them or any other headphone without a limiter. Most mp3 players can generally be set to limit the volume so the kids hearing won’t be compromised.