Christmas has come and gone. The presents have been unwrapped and the kids have run off with their toys. But if you can hear those toys from the other room, they may be causing harm to your child’s hearing.
Acoustic Standards for Toys
According to the Sight and Hearing Association, there are toys on the market that do not adhere to safety guidelines, as established by the American Society of Testing and Material. Toys should not reach more than 85 decibels (dB) at 20 inches away.
In fact, 85 decibels is the threshold for sound in most situations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration notes that exposure to sounds over 85 dB in an eight-hour work day has the potential to damage hearing – this is common for people who work in occupations such as factory work and construction, where machines and power tools are humming all day. Most people in these industries are equipped with custom ear protection on the job.
And yet – there are toys on the market that often surpass these levels. And kids aren’t using earplugs to play with them.
Noisiest Toys of 2015
According to the SHA, of the 20 toys tested this year, 16 sounded off above 100 dB, which can damage hearing in less than 15 minutes. Below are the top 10 noisiest toys of 2015 and the decibel level at 0 inches and 10 inches away, respectively. For the entire list, go here.
- Animal Babies: Jumpin’ Lil Monkeys – 103.4/84.7
- Disney Frozen: Cool Tunes Sing-Along Boombox – 100.4/89.6
- Little Tykes: Lil’ Ocean Explorers Push ‘n Glow Fish – 93.8/83.6
- FurReal Friends: Piper, My Dancing Penguin Pet – 93.7/84.3
- Disney Pixar Inside Out: Bing Bong Musical – 93.7/84.3
- Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shellraiser with Driver LED – 91.6/88.3
- Minions Rock ‘n Roll Stuart – 90.1/80.3
- Road Rippers Street Screamers VW Beetle – 89.1/77.9
- Nickelodeon Paw Patrol Rubble Lights & Sounds – 88.6/76.0
- Fisher Price Classic Toys: See ‘n Say The Farmer Says – 88.3/77.6
Preventative Measures
There’s no reason to get rid of the toys, though. Custom ear protection is available for your child, especially if they play for long periods of times with any of the above mentioned toys. Additionally, there are apps available where you can measure the decibel levels of other toys your children may have, to give you some idea of the sounds they are hearing regularly.
Additionally, in recent years, the rate of child and teen hearing loss has risen. In part, this is due to the ubiquity of earbuds and handheld personal electronic devices, such as tablets and smart phones. These devices stream extremely dangerous volumes of sound directly to the ear, for long periods of time.
We recommend noise-canceling head phones, rather than earbuds, for this kind of listening. There are also apps that allow you to put parental volume controls on the devices. Audiologists recommend the 60-60 rule: 60% volume for only 60 minutes a day.
Hearing loss may not occur right away, but over the years, it becomes a cumulative issue. Things aren’t getting any quieter any time soon – so the best we can do is make sure we limit the noise levels early on.