One in three children under the age of 6 still fall asleep in bed with headphones or earphones on. Parents can also see it in the car on little ones as well as on long journeys.
On the occasion of its 14th edition (from January 23 to February 5, 2017), the Semaine du Son alerts on the challenges of good hearing health for a real quality of life at all ages: from very early childhood to at very old age.
A national information and prevention campaign on the consequences of hearing loss will be launched in particular to make the general public aware of this issue. It must be said that the very latest Ipsos-La Semaine du Son 2017 study (1) confirms the trend predicted last year. It again highlights risky behavior, in particular with new technologies.
The previous edition revealed that nearly one in 10 children under 2 falls asleep in bed with headphones or earphones on. A year later, these investigators reveal the permanence of risky behavior in children under 6 (and their parents).
Too high a sound volume
In figures, one in three children under the age of 6 still fall asleep in their bed with headphones or earphones on. Parents also see it in the car: 46% on short trips and 45% on long trips. Another danger pointed out by these sounders, but in another survey (2), the sound volume of the devices. 2 in 3 parents (62%) hear what their child under 6 is listening to with headphones or earphones! And this, especially in the car, where the sound environment is noisy.
Faced with these figures, the promoters of the Semaine du son warn parents: “Monitor the use of headphones and have your child’s hearing checked regularly”. Two listening faults are often cited: either the headphones are poorly adjusted and not sufficiently insulating, or the music is simply too loud. As a reminder, the danger threshold is estimated at 85 dB.
In addition, the Ministry of Health recommends taking a 30-minute break every two hours of listening or 10 minutes every 45 minutes. Finally, it is necessary to systematically carry out hearing tests in newborns and then throughout life. “Good hearing and good comprehension are necessary conditions for the acquisition of basic learning for academic success and for integration into the family and social environment”, concludes the Semaine du Son.
(1) Source: Ipsos The week of sound 2016: The French and the sound environment. Survey carried out via the Internet via the Ipsos Access panel from November 18 to 21, 2016 with a national sample of 1,079 French people representative of the general population according to the quota method (sex, age, region, category of agglomeration and occupation of interview) from INSEE census data.
(2) Source: Ipsos The week of sound 2015: Young people and the sound world. National samples representative of the populations questioned: parents of children from 0 to 6 years old, children from 7 to 12 and adolescents from 13 to 19 years old according to the quota method derived from INSEE data
.
