Between online schooling, downtime gaming and binge watching Netflix, many kids have spent much of the past year with an added artificial appendage: headphones or buds plastered to their ears. Which makes many parents wonder if headphones can cause permanent hearing damage. The answer is, yes and no. 
?Headphones are not specifically more dangerous compared to other sources of noise. However, they can be a vehicle for dangerous noise exposure if used incorrectly,? says Boris Chang, an audiologist with Hearing Life in Scarborough, Ont. 
Susan Scollie, director of the National Centre for Audiology at Western University and professor at Western University in the Faculty of Health Sciences, explains it this way: ?The danger is listening to something really loud for a long time. You need to limit the volume and duration.? Noise-induced hearing loss is cumulative. If your kid is frequently exposed to loud noises for long durations they risk doing permanent damage. What the research says about kids’ headphones
Most of the data on long-term hearing loss is from studies on adults? workplace exposure to noise. Eight hours of exposure to sounds at 85 decibels (dB), which is equivalent to the noise in a crowded restaurant or heavy traffic, is considered harmful. So if your kid is listening to movies, music or video games at 85 dB or higher for that length of time at once or cumulatively throughout the day, they could be at risk. 
Volume is the key factor. Sound levels of 70 ...