JBL is adding a child-safe twist to its Junior range with JBL Junior Free, a pair of open-ear headphones built to keep children aware of their surroundings while they listen.
The design – similar to those found in the best running headphones – skips sealing the ear canal, caps volume at under 85 dB, and adds parental controls so you can keep tabs on how long and how loud they listen. They go on sale this November for £69.99 / €79.99 at jbl.com, in Purple, Teal, and Peach.
Junior FREE blends the company’s OpenSound and Safe Sound features so kids hear their musicand videos while still being aware of what’s happening around them. Inside the JBL Headphones app, parents can set volume and listening time limits, check real-time indicators, and view daily or weekly reports to build healthy habits.
Comfort and durability take centre stage here, with a lightweight, flexible neckband, soft silicone contact points, and larger, child-friendly buttons that are easier for small hands. They’re IPX4 splashproof for the odd spill, connect over Bluetooth with multipoint so two devices can be paired at once, and run for up to 10 hours on a single charge. When the battery runs low, a quick 10-minute top-up adds around three hours to keep lessons or playlists going.
It’s a great little product and with parental control baked into the app, JBL might be onto something.
