Having your baby wear headphones or earmuffs while flying is a good idea to help keep their ears protected from the loud noises that can occur during flight. This is especially true for really young babies.
This post will examine if babies need headphones or earmuffs for flying. I’ll tell you why it’s a good idea to have them wear some sort of ear protection in flight and provide you with some important related information.
Let’s take off.
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Key Takeaways
- Using some type of ear protection is a good idea for babies when flying. This can protect their ears from damage caused by loud noises during flight.
- Really young infants are especially susceptible to hearing damage from loud noises, so using hearing protection is essential with young babies when flying.
- Babies that are a little older might not need as much hearing protection, but earmuffs or headphones can help calm them down to better enjoy or handle the flight.
Do Babies Need Headphones or Earmuffs for Flying?
Having your baby wear headphones or earmuffs when flying is a good idea. This is easy to do and can help protect your baby from loud noises during the flight, which can lead to potential hearing damage if they aren’t wearing protection.
This is especially true with really young babies and infants because they are more susceptible to hearing damage than toddlers. If you are flying with a newborn or a child only a few months old, you should always have hearing protection of some sort.
But also remember that proper hearing protection will do a better job of protecting your baby than headphones or earmuffs. While these items can protect their ears to some degree, it’s not what they are technically designed for.
Some types of headphones and earmuffs are explicitly designed to protect baby ears. These are good options to explore if you are concerned about flying with your child.
If you don’t use headphones, earmuffs, or another type of hearing protection on your baby, that doesn’t mean they will definitely damage their ears. It’s just more likely that they will be exposed to loud volumes caused by the engine or other electrical noises.
The best practice is always to have the option of some type of ear protection for your baby. That way, you can put it on them when you need to, whether flying or doing some other activity around loud noises.
How to Protect Baby Ears During Flight
While the loud noises from the play are one concern when flying with them, other issues can also cause discomfort or harm. The pressure change during a flight is the main culprit for this.
Having them wear earplugs or earmuffs can help to a certain degree, but the discomfort they experience from pressure is not really caused by noise. So having them use a pacifier or something similar can help relieve the pressure.
This is similar to adults chewing gum during flights to help with discomfort. A baby has likely never experienced this pain before, and that’s why they react poorly to it. But sucking or chewing on something can help.
It’s also a good idea to keep them awake during takeoff and landing. This is when the pressure changes rapidly because the plane is ascending or descending quickly. If the baby is asleep, they will be startled by the discomfort.
You can also try simply distracting the baby from what is happening. If you play with them or get them to engage with a toy or something else, they might not notice the discomfort caused by the changing air pressure.
But again, if you are only concerned with protecting their hearing, you’ll want some type of hearing protection for them. This could be headphones, earplugs, earmuffs, or some other official kind of hearing protection.
Can Flying Damage Baby’s Ears?
The risk when flying to a baby’s ears involves loud volumes and not the pressure change. And airplanes typically aren’t loud enough to cause permanent damage. It’s just a good precaution to have babies wear ear protection of some sort.
The pressure change, and your baby’s reaction to it during flight, can be alarming. But it won’t lead to lasting damage. There might not be anything you can do during the flight except for comforting or distracting your child to fix things.
But once you land and are back on the ground, your child will be ok and won’t have any damage from the flight. Even if you go on multiple flights while your child is a baby, there isn’t much risk of damage from pressure.
Exposure to loud volumes does pose a risk of damage. And even though planes don’t typically get loud enough to cause this damage, it is possible. That’s why you’ll want to have your baby wear some type of hearing protection during the flight.
Final Thoughts
Small babies should wear some type of hearing protection when flying. This could be proper hearing protection, headphones, or earmuffs. Permanent damage can occur if babies are exposed to loud noises during the flight.
It’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to protecting your child. So the more you can do to ensure their safety, the better. And having them wear hearing protection on a flight is one way to accomplish this.
Have you ever flown with a baby? Did you put headphones or earmuffs on them during the flight? Let me know in the comments below.
