What’s a Safe Level of Noise for My Baby

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We’d like to take our baby to a basketball game, and I’m suddenly realizing how loud it might be. I’ve seen baby headphones that claim to protect hearing, but do those actually do anything? And are they necessary? Is there any data on how much noise exposure is too much for babies?

—Emily C.

Noise exposure in children and infants is an incredibly complicated issue, without much direct data to guide us. The AAP warns about noise exposure and hearing loss in kids, but the evidence is tangential. We can draw some conclusions from a related set of facts (more below), but I want to caution that we aren’t going to be able to say anything very concrete.

First, we know that extremely loud noises (like being close to a volcanic eruption) can damage or destroy hearing completely.

Second, we know that extensive noise exposure in people can cause hearing loss. Occupational noise exposure — people who work in loud factories, near airplanes, with jackhammers, etc. — are at risk for hearing loss if they do not protect their ears. Regulatory bodies in the U.S. and Europe put limits on occupational noise exposure and have rules about the need for protection.

Third, we know that repeated exposure to noise is the key issue. Walking by someone using a leaf blower a few times a week doesn’t present a significant risk. Using a leaf blower for many hours a day as part of your job does.

Infants and children may have more sensitive ears than older adults, and they also have a longer life span for which they need their ears, so, understandably, we are often more concerned about noise exposure in this group. However, direct evidence on hearing loss often does not show a link to noise exposure; for example, this study, which shows that hearing loss is more common in children who have had more ear infections, doesn’t show a link to noise exposure.

The AAP warnings on noise exposure focus heavily on continual exposures from the environment or from (say) consistent use of headphones for music in older children. Again, direct links do not appear strongly in the data, but there is a theoretical risk based on what we know about occupational noise.

Overall, there are reasons to be worried about ongoing loud noise exposure, but unless the noise is extremely loud, short-term exposure is unlikely to result in any meaningful hearing changes. But we don’t have a lot of detail beyond that about, say, decibels across time for kids.

In terms of your headphone question, a lot of parents ask this if they are going to take a child to a loud event like a concert or sporting event. That length of exposure is unlikely to damage their hearing for a single event, but headphones designed for hearing protection may be a good idea simply because babies do not tend to like very loud continuous noise. Headphones might be the key to you enjoying the concert.