Tips for Safe and Sanitary Use of Headphones in Schools’ Language Labs and Classrooms

Image of Sanako's headphones for schools

We’ve collected here some tips and advice on how to properly sanitize and clean your school’s headphones and headsets. Taking good care of your headset by cleaning it regularly is a practice we highly recommend for all our educational customers. A clean headset means safe usage, which is now more important than ever. These instructions apply to Sanako’s headphones for schools (product name: SLH-07 headsets) specifically, but can be adapted to use with other headsets or headphones designed for schools as well. Just make sure you primarily follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer. 

 

First things first – wash those hands!

The first step for a safe learning session with headphones starts with making sure every student washes their hands before they handle the headphones.

Instruct everyone to wash their hands properly with soap and water, and to dry off their hands before using the headsets. Here’s a link to a video that shows how to wash hands properly and for how long! This already goes a long way, but follow the instructions below to sanitize the headsets after the session as well.  

 

Cleaning the headphones after each session

The headset frame, ear cups and the microphone can be cleaned easily with sanitary wipes. Just lightly wipe the headset band, the cups and the microphone with the wipe and allow them to dry out. If you’re using the foam cover for the Sanako headset microphone, gently peel it off before wiping and follow the instructions below on how to clean the foam cover. 

If you don’t have sanitary wipes available to you, you can also use a light mixture of soap and water and a cloth rag. Just make sure to squeeze the cloth almost dry before wiping, to make sure you don’t inadvertently apply liquids inside the porous part of the microphone. 

NOTE: Don’t use aggressive chemicals or other strong alcohol-based cleaning solutions with the headsets before making sure they are suitable. Some chemicals might damage the materials or even melt the plastic surface. Read the instructions carefully before applying anything on the headsets. Soap and water is recommended though. 

 

Cleaning the microphone foam cover

The foam cover for the SLH-07 headsets is removable. You can gently peel it off the microphone, and submerge it in lightly soapy water. Allow the cover to dry overnight before reapplying the cover. Be careful not to tear the cover if the headsets are particularly old. If the cover doesn’t come off easily, it’s better to just wipe it with a sanitary wipe than to try to apply soap and water directly on the foam because the microphone underneath is very sensitive to liquids.

Sanako SLH-07 Headset has a removable microphone foam cover as shown in this picture.

SLH07 Sanako headset sideview

 

Extra tip: Use disposable sanitary covers to protect the ear cushions

Sanako also provides disposable sanitary covers for our headset’s ear cushions to provide hassle-free sanitary use between classes. You can purchase these separately.

Hopefully these tips help you to manage the Covid-19 safety risks related to using shared headphones in your language lab or computer classroom!

 

Click here for more information about Sanako’s headphones for schools. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions how to use our professional headsets safely in environments like language classes and schools’ computer classrooms.