With screens becoming more accessible to younger audiences, the hard rule of ‘no screens for toddlers’ isn’t a reality for most parents these days. While I will never argue for the pros of unlimited screen time on iPads and tablets, I will say there’s a right and strategic way to go about it.
And while PuroSoundLabs doesn’t make it their frontal argument that they’re designed to be used with screen time by toddlers, the writing is all on the wall.
I was sent a pair to test out, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. With a family trip to Italy on the horizon and a two-year-old toddler needing entertainment throughout the massive trip, I was excited to see how these noise-canceling headphones hold up. So, let’s break down what the PuroQuiet Plus headphones do and then unpack my favorite things about them.
What Are The PuroQuiet Plus Headphones
The Puro Sound Labs PuroQuiet Kids Bluetooth Headphones have been meticulously crafted with children’s auditory health and comfort at the forefront. They come with a built-in volume limiter set at a maximum of 85 dB to safeguard against hearing damage, a critical consideration given how children tend to listen at high volumes. Featuring active noise cancellation (ANC) and generous earcup padding, these headphones effectively block out external noise, enabling a more enjoyable listening experience at lower volumes without compromising sound quality.
The sound profile is well-balanced and natural, offering a warm tone and rich bass, making them ideal for audio content ranging from music to movies. Designed with kids in mind, the PuroQuiet headphones excel aesthetically and functionally. Available in various attractive colors, their sturdy aluminum build and comfortable fit outshine many plastic alternatives. User-friendliness is further emphasized by clearly marked left and right earcup indicators and large control buttons.
These headphones provide the flexibility of wired or wireless use, boasting a battery life of up to 22 hours on Bluetooth alone, making them exceptionally convenient for on-the-go use. Although positioned at a higher price than some competitors due to their ANC feature, Bluetooth capability, and premium construction, the PuroQuiets justify their cost by blending adult-level headphone features with child-friendly design elements.
Now, with the boring stuff out of the way,
What I Loved Most About The PuroQuiet Plus Headphone
They’re Quiet!
I’m new to the noise-canceling headphone game, at least the child-specific types. I have a few different headphones, but parents will know that having stuff that works for you does not guarantee that it will work or be loved by your kids.
On the airplane, whenever I could get my toddler son to give these up to me (which I’ll talk about in a minute), and I was able to test them out, I found that they did do what they advertised themselves as. They removed a fair amount of noise and made listening to whatever audio your kiddo consumes easy and stress-free.
They canceled out a lot of the ambient noise on the plane, a bit of the loud rumbling of the engine, and more, allowing my son to stay locked in on his Bluey episode and the older cartoon hobbit movie (of which he’s a massive fan)
My Kid Doesn’t Hate Them
This sounds like a silly title, but it’s a section that deserves a point of note. My two y/o son was, and still is, utterly averse to most of the headphones we’ve put on him. We’ve tried many different models of child headphones, and he’s constantly ripped them off with a stubborn “NO DADDY!”
But this is the first pair of headphones I’ve given to my son, and he likes using them (the two-hour, then eight-hour, then three-hour flights that brought us from Portland to Chicago, to Frankfurt, to Bari were proof of this). Every other headphone he rejects like the plague.
The Limiter
My toddler loves pushing buttons, which is fine on the remote we give him, which we’ve taken the batteries out of, or the buttons of the car dashboard when we’ve turned the car off and are sitting in the home driveway. But when it comes to headphones that he’s listening to his favorite soundtracks, mostly the Hobbit cartoon OST or the OST of ‘The Greatest Showman,’ the last thing you want is for him to inadvertently crank the volume up to 11 and have him blow his little eardrums out before he’s turned two.
But the limiter and volume maximize on these headphones caps the max output, ensuring that no matter how many volume knobs he pushes or fiddles with, his precious little eardrums are safe, which was a massive confidence booster for me as a dad.
Who Are The PuroQuiet Plus Headphones For?
Traveling Kiddos
This is easy, but any parent who has traveled with kiddos knows how hard it is to sit still for several hours. As a parent, I have no holds bar for screen time on flights and long car rides like this.
And in these situations, the noise-canceling aspect of the PuroQuiet headphones is a game changer. They gave me confidence, allowing me to spend prolonged screen time traveling across the country with my kid.
We rarely do unadulterated screen time, but when we do, these headphones help get the most mileage out of this guilty pleasure parenting hack.
Easily Distracted Kids
If you have a kid of an age where homework is now a part of their workload, preventing them from being distracted by the outside world while they do their numbers, read their books, or whatever is certainly a thing.
The noise prevention, adjustable size, and general aesthetic of these headphones make them an easy recommendation for parents looking for headphones in which their kids can lose themselves in their world and look good. It worked for my toddler on this plane ride, though all kids and all age ranges are entirely different.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
