by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Loud sounds can cause hearing loss. This is no secret. So why do the toy manufacturers insist on making toys that produce ear-damaging levels of sound? Maybe more to the point, why do parents/grandparents buy such noisy toys for their children?
Young children have especially sensitive ears and short arms. Thus, when they play with toys, their toys are typically very close to their ears. Loud sounds from these toys can cumulatively cause hearing loss over time. If the sound is loud enough, it can cause instant hearing loss.
According to the Sight and Hearing Association website, the loudest toy for 2010 is the Bell Riderz Block Blaster by Bell Sports, Inc. Unbelievably, this hand toy emits a sound that is louder than car horns, sirens, chainsaws and jackhammers! When holding this toy up to his ear, your child’s ear is blasted with more than 129 decibels (dB) of sound. Even at 10 inches away, the sound is still a whopping 113 dB. Is this level of sound really necessary for your tot to have fun with his toys?
Let’s put this in perspective. The safe exposure time for a sound of 129 dB is only 1 second, and what kid only makes toy sounds for less than a second? Thus, by playing with this toy, your child’s hearing is seriously at risk.
As parents and grandparents, you need to make sure your child’s toy sound levels are reasonable. Current wisdom says that sounds under 80 dB are safe at all times. After that, for each 3 dB increase in sound level, the safe exposure time is cut in half. Thus:
Sound Safe
Level Time
85 dB 8 hrs.
88 dB 4 hrs.
91 dB 2 hrs.
94 dB 1 hr.
97 dB 30 mins.
100 dB 15 mins.
103 dB 8 mins.
106 dB 4 mins.
109 dB 2 mins.
112 dB 1 min.
115 dB 30 secs.
118 dB 15 secs.
121 dB 8 secs.
124 dB 4 secs.
127 dB 2 secs.
130 dB 1 sec.
See the Sight and Hearing Association’s list here of the top ten (actually they list 18) nasty noisy toys for 2010.
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