With the holidays upon us, you are probably wondering what gifts to give the little ones. How about the gift of hearing? Each day, a child's ears are bombarded with loud and possibly damaging sounds; why continue that assault by giving a loud toy?
For the last 12 years, Minnesota's Sight and Hearing Association and the University of Minnesota, have teamed up to purchase and test readily available toys for potentially dangerous sound levels. This year, 15 out of 19 tested toys were deemed loud enough to damage precious hearing in 15 minutes. The top offender? Iron Man Mobile Headquarters Action vehicle by Jada Toys, Inc., which came in at a whopping 119.5 dBA! You must realize that a lawn mower produces about 90 dBA of noise and anything over 100dBA poses hearing risk in 15 minutes. Second and third place offenders go to the Fischer Price Learning Letters Mailbox (113.9 dBA) and Sesame Street Help Along Sing a Song (112.1 dBA), respectively.
How do you know if a toy is too loud for children? Try it out. Hold a toy next to your ear and give it a go. If you find yourself flinching at the sound, it is too loud. Noises can be harmful at all ages. However, a child's ears are more fragile due to the smaller size of the ear canal and the increased sound pressure placed upon the eardrum.
Take the time to inspect the toys children already have. If the toys are too loud, control the volume by taking out the batteries and putting packing tape over the speaker to muffle sounds, replace toys with less noisy toys, or restrict use to outside play areas.
Remember to enjoy your holiday season and protect the ones you love!
Candice E. Ortiz, AuD, CCC-A, FAAA
Audiologist
Coastal Hearing and Balance Center
3700 Rt 33
Neptune, NJ 07753
No comments:
Post a Comment