Louisville Courier-Journal

Noisy toys

Check Santa's list twice to protect kids' hearing

By Darla Carter
December 14, 2006

As a mother and an audiologist, Ingrid Edwards is fastidious about shielding the ears of her 8-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter.

She's been known to put tape on their toys and music players to keep the devices from playing too loudly.

Protecting children's hearing is something that parents should be vigilant about, some experts say, especially at this time of year when noisy toys are on many kids' wish lists for Santa.

"There are a lot of well-intended, loving parents and grandparents that want to please their children and grandchildren, but they don't realize that they could actually be causing some harm," said Pam Mason, director of audiology practices for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

"Noise is pollution, and you can't see it, you can't touch it, you can't taste it, you can't smell it, so we tend to ignore it, but it is toxic to our hearing mechanism, and the damage from it does creep up on you, very slowly, imperceptibly day by day."

For nearly a decade, the Sight & Hearing Association, a nonprofit in St. Paul, Minn., has tested the noise levels of various children's toys -- with the help of researchers at the University of Minnesota. It compiles a list to raise awareness among parents.

Prolonged exposure to noise above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Though a child may only play with a given toy for a few minutes, "we want to really get out that message that we need to protect their hearing," said Julee Sylvester, a spokeswoman for the Sight & Hearing Association. "You can prevent noise-induced hearing loss, but you cannot cure it once you have it."

Some other groups, such as the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, also compile hit lists of problem toys, highlighting ones that are excessively loud or that have other issues, from too much lead to dangerous magnets.

The toys on the Sight & Hearing Association's list are intended for children ages 6 months to 5 years and older.

This year, 12 of the 15 toys on the list were found to be 100 decibels or louder at speaker level (0 inches). The worst was the Power Gear Neo Fazer, which at 116 decibels was about as loud as a jet ski.

The results surprised Dr. Abby Meyer, an otolaryngology resident at the University of Minnesota who took part in the testing.

"Considering that I'm an ear, nose and throat physician and I was surprised, I would assume that many parents probably wouldn't realize how high they are," Meyer said of the noise levels. "Even toys that you wouldn't think would be that loud were."

For example, "you don't expect it from a book that you're holding 4 inches from your face," said Edwards, who works at The Heuser Hearing Institute in Louisville and was not involved in the testing.

Three books -- "The Wiggles Wiggly Jukebox," "The Wiggles Wiggly Songs" and the "Sesame Street Help Along Sing A Song" -- were 112 decibels or higher at speaker level, though the sound dropped down to the mid to upper 80s when measured from 10 inches away.

All of the toys on the list were louder than 90 decibels at speaker level -- which is comparable to a power mower. But only four toys were 90 decibels or higher at 10 inches away.

Accumulative damage

The Sight & Hearing Association is warning parents about loud toys, primarily because it worries about the effect these playthings might have on children's hearing over time.

Parents are "starting out these kids with things that are loud, and we know that they're going to be exposed to more noise over their lifetime," Sylvester said.

"A person of any age can have noise-induced hearing loss," Meyer said, so it's important to "teach the children good habits to protect their hearing."

Lata Krishnan, an audiology clinic director at Purdue University, said she sees seniors dealing with the aftereffects of noise from as far back as World War II.

"Do we really want to be starting this exposure at age 2 and 3?" she said.

"Typically, the exposure has to be repeated or impulsive (like an explosion) before permanent harm is caused," said Krishnan, a clinical associate professor at Purdue. "However, noise-induced hearing loss is insidious and can go undetected for years before its impact is recognized."

When people develop a gap in hearing -- also known as a "noise notch" -- they may have trouble discriminating sounds or understanding speech in a crowd, Edwards said.

It's common for boys to have noise notches before they graduate from high school, she said, adding, "We have a whole generation of people in their 20s with significant noise notches from noise damage."

And toys are just part of the picture.

A lifetime of noise

Think about "a child listening to noisy toys when they're a preschooler or a toddler, and then they grow up a little bit and they get an iPod and they're listening to that music, and then they start hunting with Uncle Bob, and then they get their driver's license and buy a motorcycle," Mason said. "Throughout a lifetime, all of that exposure is part of the package for you, and it acts like a premature aging on your hearing mechanism."

That's why the Sight & Hearing Association wants parents to start thinking about their children's hearing early and educating kids about the potential effect of noise exposure.

"We don't want to stop kids from playing with toys, of course not," Sylvester said. "We just want parents to be safe about it. … None of us wants to have our child have a hearing loss."

Though a hearing loss is not life-threatening, it is life-changing and can affect the development of a child's academic, social, language and speech skills, Mason said.

Sylvester, who has a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, goes to various retail stores to select toys that she suspects of being excessively loud.

"It's sort of random," said Sylvester, who also takes suggestions from the public. "I never know what I'm going to find when I go in there."

Because watchdog groups can't test every toy on the market, parents should do their own detective work when considering a toy.

"I would test it on themselves," Meyer agreed. "In doing some of the testing, I did that myself, where I held it to my ear and there was definitely some times where it hurt. It was very loud."

But remember that sound doesn't have to hurt the ears in order to be damaging, Krishnan said.

Older kids at risk too

Though the toys on the Sight & Hearing Association's list mainly are for very young children, parents of older kids shouldn't put their guard down.

Teens and other children may be listening to personal music equipment, such as mp3 players and iPods, at 110-120 decibels, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. That's equivalent to a chainsaw or a siren.

"You have to watch how loud they turn up the volume," Edwards said.

It's also wise to limit the amount of listening time, Sylvester said.

If you buy your children iPods, begin educating the kids about noise-induced hearing loss and "go into the software from Apple and reduce the maximum output to 100 decibels," Mason suggested. "That's still damaging, but it is a reduction from what an ungoverned iPod can produce."