These Popular Toys Can Seriously Damage Your Children’s Hearing.
You are not just getting old. Today’s toys are fucking loud. It’s not just an annoyance that causes many parents to either break a hammer or drink – prolonged exposure to high decibel levels can be dangerous for children and can even cause long-term hearing loss.
All toys must comply with the “Acoustic Standard” of the American Society for Testing Materials, which states that the sound pressure level of a toy must not exceed 85 decibels at a distance of 50 centimeters. Climb above 85 decibels and you will enter the danger zone . (The vacuum is about 80 decibels.) The fact is that children come much closer to their toys than 50 centimeters. The arm is about 25 centimeters (or 10 inches) long, and any parent who has seen their child fall in love with a plastic Spider-Man knows that they will often hug him, sleep with him, and maybe even lick him from time to time. his.
The Vision and Hearing Association has emphasized this for years and produces an annual list of noisy toys that I really appreciate. This includes toys that are louder than 85 decibels at test distances that make more real sense – zero inches and 10 inches. Looking through the latest list from 2017, I noticed several popular toys that my child groans every time he sees them on store shelves. You may have seen them too. Here are the top 10 culprits:
Beat Bugs: Molded Sing Along Karaoke (Hijinx Alive)
0 “: 96.7 dB 10”: 89.4 dB
Disney Elena of Avalor: Magic Scepter of Light with Sounds (Jakks HK, Ltd.)
0 “: 96.3 dB 10”: 85.6 dB
Disney Pixar Cars: Talking Cruz Ramirez (Mattel)
0 “: 93.9 dB 10”: 88.3 dB
Despicable Me 3: Dave with a Banana (Thinkway Toys)
0 ”: 93.8 dB 10 ”: 79.2 dB
Chomp and Count Dino (VTech)
0-inch: 93.8 dB 10-inch: 88.1 dB
Power Rangers Megazord ( Saban Brands, LLC)
0 “: 92.4 dB 10”: 88.3 dB
Nicolodeon PawPatrol: Puppies Rushing to the Rescue (Spin Master, Ltd.)
0 ”: 91.2 dB 10 ”: 79.6 dB
Drill & Learn Toolkit (VTech)
0 in: 91.0 dB 10 in: 79.6 dB
Vibrant Beats Dance & Move Beat BowWow (Fisher-Price)
0 ”: 90.8 dB 10 ”: 83.1 dB
Marvel Spider-Man Homecoming: Super Sense Spider-Man (Hasbro)
0 “: 90.6 dB 10”: 87.3 dB
See the full list here . Hearing loss develops over time, so don’t panic if your child has played with one of these toys before. But know how important it is to protect young ears. If you think the toy is too loud, you can test it with a sound level measurement app like Sound Meter, or as the Vision and Hearing Association points out , you can just trust your own ears. If it’s too loud for you, it’s too loud for your child. Get rid of the toy, or if you don’t want to part with it at all, muffle the sound by covering the speaker with waterproof tape or superglue. Or, you know, just take out the batteries.