Xbox One Surround Sound Headphones — Decibel Level? Safety?

My son is 14 and like most boys his age he loves his Xox. He can play it all day everyday.

Right now he has a one ear headset that he uses for voice communications and the game sound emits from the TV.

He's after a set of surround sound headphones and I am seriously against it. I think listening to gun fire; blasts etc for a few hours each day with headphones, even with the volume low, is highly dangerous and it would devastate me if I let him have a pair for him to turn around in 5 years and say he's hearing things.

But... does anyone know if these headphones are legally restricted to a certain decibel level or can you ramp them up into a danger zone? I know phones warn you but that doesn't stop you going higher if you want.

Or does anyone know of an alternative? Or does anyone have any bad experience they could mention that I can show him?

 

I have a lot of random thoughts on this and I'm bad at organizing them.

Personally I greatly prefer having voice communications on the one ear headset and the game sound on speakers. I find I can't hear either the game or the voice communications clearly when they're both coming from the same source (headphones).

That being said, a gaming headset is probably what is most commonly used. Most of my gaming friends go that route. I have friends who wear headsets while gaming for like 8+ hours a day.

I highly doubt there are any restrictions for volume on any of those headsets.

I think music is much more dangerous than video game sounds because music is much more consistently loud. But I suppose it depends on the game.

Is he after the surround sound? Or does he just want a cool gaming headset?

I would suggest getting a surround speaker setup but that'll cost way more than a headset.

I assume you've instilled a healthy fear of listening to anything too loud. Can you trust him to not turn the volume up too high?

 

I play on my xbox for a good amount of time when I'm able to. Before I got tinnitus I used my headphones all the the time but now that I have it I dont use them anymore. I'm not sure if that's what caused it for me but if you are worried about it I suggest maybe a sound system or a stereo set up, he could use a one sided headset to chat.

 

Some headphones do have a dB limiter (they are often marketed for kids), but you have to specifically look for that feature: it's not that common.

 

He's well aware of noise and its effect etc, but could I trust him? You know what kids can be like. Then of course there is the inadvertent volume increase. He's after surround sound but perhaps a better external system is the way forward.

Thanks.

 

It depends on what games he plays. Personally, I can see how some games cause damage to the higher frequencies being an avid gamer myself. Which is why before I had T, I would always lower the game volume, because I played shooters that had grenades blowing up, silence with the eeeeeeeee, and stuff afterwards and bullet shots. Trains. I think you should tell him to keep it an minimal level and maybe monitor to see if he's listening to you? ( Kids get absorbed in games. He can't possibly know when you're going to come in and check. )

 

My Tinnitus started after playing computer games with headphones, I played CrossFire back then.

 

I don't know, when I was a kid I listened to my parents. From what I can tell I'm the only one.

 

You know i thought a little about it. I think that if you will do anything to prevent your son from using headphones then he will do it anyway but when you're not aware of it, and probably use them louder just to feel that he won the battle. I think so because i was that kind of kid

It's can be hard for him to understand from what you're trying to save him, it's hard for anyone without T. And key thing here is for him and anyone without T to understand what it's like, what's the risk to prevent them from developing T. To make them actually care about it.

Maybe sit down with him and talk about what happened to you, what happened to people you talked to even on forums (me for example, it started because of loud FPS games) how it changed your and our life and after that ask him to not use them loud if he can't really live without them. Maybe if he will be aware of how headphones can be dangerous then he will use them at a lot lower volume or even give up headphones.

Also i would only consider Open Back headphones, they should be the lesser evil because the sound can somewhat escape.

I'm a gamer too, everyone is using headphones (well, except me now ofc.) and probably every of his friends. He can be jelaous of his friends and it will not be a good thing too.

It's not an easy situation and i think that some compromise here is the best option. Well, parenting is not easy at all i think

Good luck to you two and no, headphones aren't restricted at all. That's why you need to talk with him about it.

 

Thanks Snake. I haven't heard of open back headphones, I'll check them out.