JBL has launched a new pair of earbuds designed to expand as kids grow, with safeguards to protect their hearing and ensure they can still hear ambient sounds (for safety).
Kids like to dart out in front of things: cars, lawnmowers, or even just into people. If they can’t hear oncoming traffic or their parents’ warnings, it’s a danger. Even earbuds without active noise cancellation muffle the surroundings enough to conceivably prevent kids from hearing approaching danger.
The JBL Junior FREE sit-in-ear buds ring the ear’s opening, rather than fitting into the ear canal like a standard pair of earbuds. That keeps the JBLs from muffling sounds, even as they’re listening to their favorite show or music album.
If the kid is wearing them, they should still be able to hear you warn them away from the curbs or not to pet the dog approaching on the sidewalk.
JBL Junior FREE Earbuds
“What if they just put the volume up so high that they wouldn’t be able to hear you anyway?” The JBLs are limited to 85 decibels so that they can’t do that (or damage their hearing). Through the JBL app, parents can monitor and set usage and volume limits, too. The onboard Bluetooth can connect to two devices at the same time: the kid’s and the parent’s.
The neckband that fits around the back of the neck keeps the headset seemingly more secure than a typical pair of earbuds. Given how often I see an AirPod fly out of someone’s ear on the train or at the gym, I could only expect that a rambunctious kid would have regular earbuds flying out of their ears constantly. So that they don’t grow out of the JBLs, they can expand the neckband as they age.
Ten hours of battery life isn’t great, but given that it’s made for children, that should be fine. If it’s depleted and your kid needs more listening time—say, on a long flight—10 minutes of charge should give you three hours of listening time.
JBL is mum on whether they’ll come to the US, but they’ll be available in Europe this month for £69.99/€79.99.
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