INDUSTRY INSIGHT
BETTER HEARING
SPONSORED CONTENT
Study:
Some Toys Loud
Enough to Cause
Permanent Hearing
Loss in Children
E
ach year Sight & Hearing Association representatives go
shopping for toys that sound a little too loud for our young ones.
Some of the most common toys for infants, toddlers, and
adolescents are not only dangerous for their hearing but can actually
damage the hearing of adults, too, considering their noise levels.
There aren’t a lot of packages with adequate warnings, and the
regulations for these toys are pretty poorly written.
Toys are required to meet standards set by the American Society
for Testing and Materials regarding sound-pressure levels, but those
standards aren’t always in touch with reality. For example, regulations
state that noise emitted from a children’s toy must not exceed 85
decibels (dB) at 50 centimeters from the body — but 50 centimeters
is closer to the average length of an adult’s arm than a child’s,
creating a disconnect between the actual use of a toy and its rules for
production. Of the Sight & Hearing Association’s 20 noisiest toys from
2014, 12 of them exceeded 94 dB at close range, with four of them
breaching 100 dB.
When you consider how someone would actually play with a toy,
a child would generally hold it a lot closer to the body. So how safe
How Loud is Too Loud?
The loudness of sound is measured in decibels (dB). Most
experts recommend that you use earplugs when exposed to
sounds of 85 dB and above.
20 dB Ticking watch 95 dB MRI machine
30 dB Quiet whisper 100 dB Blow dryer, subway
train
40 dB Refrigerator hum
50 dB Rainfall
60 dB Sewing machine
70 dB Washing machine
80 dB Alarm clock (two feet
away)
85 dB Average traffic
105 dB Power mower,
chainsaw
110 dB Screaming child
120 dB Rock concert,
thunderclap
130 dB Jackhammer, jet plane
(100 feet away)
This Industry Insight was written by Dr. Suzanne Yoder, Au.D.
HearWell Center, 412.208.4473; DrYoder@hearwellcenter.com,
www.hearwellcenter.com.
About HearWell Center — HearWell Center is a full-service,
independently owned audiology practice proud to be bringing
better hearing to the people of Pittsburgh since 2007. HearWell Center, located
in Forest Hills, is a hearing care practice that has helped over 1,000 patients
with their hearing, tinnitus, and balance disorders — and offers state-of-the-art
diagnostic testing and expert fitting of hearing technology.
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children are is really based on whether they’ll be interacting with and
using the toy for an extended period of time. We don’t want to suggest
to parents that they return their child’s gifts, but some of the loudest
toys might be causing permanent damage after only a few minutes
of play.
To avoid feeling like the Grinch who stole your child’s Christmas, use
tape or glue to cover the speakers of your child’s loudest toys. This will
help mitigate the intensity of the sounds they make. To see the full list
of noisy toys, take a look at the Sight & Hearing Association’s Facebook
page, where the results of its latest study will be published once the
researchers have collected and tested all of this year’s toys.