The Sound of Silence …

I am a great fan of headphones, for me personally and for others. Music is a fantastic mood-altering medium and I will do my school run (walk) with my headphones (earworm variety) on, listening to something upbeat that gets me there positively, sometimes matching my strides to the beat of the music.

Then we’re home and the music pounds through the thin party wall that we share in our semi-detached house. Life would be less stressful if our delightful (and I use that term loosely) neighbours had been gifted headphones when they were younger.

As my children grow up and become more into the gadgets that their generation will rely on, I need headphones for them that provide a variety of uses:

1. The noise-cancelling element, both my children have autism and busy, people-filled environments make them anxious, D in particular. One of her calming tools is her mini ipad, a pair of headphones will allow her to enjoy and self-regulate with whatever app she is playing, without exterior distractions.

2. The ability for the headphones to have a volume control. This is important to me. I don’t want their relatively young and delicate ear drums damaged by excessive volume. I’d also prefer traditional headphones rather than in-ear variations for them. The look is also a factor, they both have their favourite colours after all.

3. Comfort. If the earphones aren’t comfortable, then no matter how colourful they look or how many times the potential benefits are explained, they won’t be worn. They’ll end up either in their box of sat on a shelf, maybe next to a long-forgotten toy.

4. Lastly would be durability and the comfort of a guarantee that you receive with a brand. But I don’t want that "brand" to be at too inflated a price, we are talking about headphones after all and headphones for special needs children at that. It is a high likelihood that they would need replacing more often than those belonging to neuro-typical children, due to the fact that items tend to be pulled/thrown/cast away without thought during a meltdown.

This selection of headphones from Panasonic fit requirements on all counts:

And this model would suit T and D to a tee, looking extremely comfortable, the noise control benefits, over ear and in a choice of colours:

Something that I’ll be adding to both their Christmas lists, if not before.

Disclaimer: I was asked to provide a post to Panasonic and will receive an Amazon voucher as compensation, my words and views are my own.