It seems like most everyone, even young children, have portable mp3 players of some sort. The big concern with the in-ear buds that come with most of these players is hearing damage. Ultimate Ears is making a line of earbuds for children that can help prevent hearing damage. The LoudEnough earbuds uses an “energy dissipating device before the speaker” that reduces music levels by as much as 40%, with no loss of sound quality. LoudEnough earbuds come with three sizes of ear tips, two sets of each size. The ear tips are sized from extra-small (for children six and over), small, and medium – so even adults can use them. They come in plum, blueberry, and mint and have a color-coordinated case for storage. They are about $40 from LoudEnough.
Protect Your Child’s Hearing with Ultimate Ears’ LoudEnough Earbuds
Previous post: Deal of the Day – Save 41% on a Dell Vostro 220s 2.93GHz Core 2 Duo Slim Tower + 24in Samsung LCD monitor, Windows 7
Next post: A Week With the LG eXpo Smartphone and Pico Projector
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
For kids? They should make this for the subway crowd.
@blore40 Ooops! I need to edit this to say it reduces the music level by 40%. They don’t reduce ambient noise levels, though that would be great if they could!
Note: I changed the news item to say “music levels” instead of “sound levels”. Sorry about the confusion!
And I thought blore40 was referring to sitting next to someone blasting their music such that *I* can hear it. It’s the more pedestrian version of what we have in LA — the car next to us “sharing” their music. Darn nice of them too! I always wanted to feel my teeth vibrate to a nice backbeat.
That said, I strongly suggest parents doing what ever they can to protect their kids hearing. I’m in my 40s and suffer terrible tinnitus and hearing loss. Years of loud tunes + concerts. Oh. And I used to play drums.
I don’t know if $40 is better than teaching your kids to lower the volume, though.
Got my son a pair of these recently and they seem to be doing the trick.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665376465
Also I’ve noticed that kid can keep the headphones out of the way and tangle free by wearing them around his neck(like back when they were the only type around).