It’s finally the holiday season and everyone is excited for good food, (socially distant) gatherings, and presents, unless that is, you have young children with noisy toys constantly playing throughout your house. Although most parents can attest to how loud their children’s toys are, you may not know just EXACTLY how loud.
The Arizona Commission for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACDHH) and the Sight and Hearing Association are two of many organizations that put out an annual list of noisy toys for the holiday season. There are toys on their list that have been tested and shown to have an output of 103 dB! Measurements were taken as if a child had their ear next to the speaker, which is very realistic as anyone with young children would know. According to the American Speech Language Hearing Association and the American Academy of Audiology, 85 dB is the loudest that a child should be exposure to. For reference, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) notes that exposure to 90 dB for 8 hours a day is considered a “permissible noise exposure”. The permissible time of exposure for a 100 dB sound is only 2 hours. Many of theses toys are actually labeled as educational toys.
Here are some tips for testing to see if toys are too loud:
- Test the toys prior to buying. Many toys have a “TRY ME” button
- Hold the toy relatively close to your own ear and see if you think it is too loud
Ways to Reduce Volume
- If there is a volume control, make sure it is set at the lowest volume
- Put waterproof tape or glue over the speaker to dampen the sound
- Put tape over the volume control to prevent your child from changing the volume.
The below list was organized by The Arizona Commission for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACDHH):
