2021 – Noisy Toys & Hearing Loss

How much do you know about noisy toys and hearing loss? As we discussed in a post last year, there are toys out there that emit sounds so loud, they can be damaging to your children’s ears. Thankfully, every year, the Sight and Hearing Association releases a list of toys to avoid to help you proactively protect your children’s hearing. With the holidays rapidly approaching, we thought it would be valuable to learn what’s what so we can plan ahead. Let’s take a look at the toys to avoid this holiday season.

Refresher: What is too loud?

85 dB is the maximum volume a child should be exposed to for no more than eight hours a day. Sounds louder than 100 dB can lead to hearing loss in children in less than 15 minutes.

– American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Noisy toys to avoid

Though not all these toys emit sounds louder than 85 dB, they are still ones The Sight and Hearing Association calls out to beware of. All the dB levels listed below are for when the toy is held 10 inches away from one’s ear.

55 dB – 75 dB – held 10 inches

• 58.1 dB: PAW Patrol Learning Watch (68.1 dB at 0 inches)
• 61.3 dB: Blues Clues & You! Sing-a-long Guitar (66.3 dB at 0 inches)
• 64.5 dB: Pinkfong® Baby Shark™ Sing & Swim Bath Toy (71.6 dB at 0 inches)
• 67.8 dB: Musical Rhymes Book (75.8 dB at 0 inches)
• 69.2 dB: Bright Lights Soccer Ball™ (76.9 dB at 0 inches)
• 70.8 dB: PAW Patrol Ryder’s Pup Pad™ (77 dB at 0 inches)
• 72.2 dB: Care Bears™ Cheer Bears™ (83.7 dB at 0 inches)
• 72.4 dB: Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® My Smart Purse (78.8 dB at 0 inches)
• 72.4 dB: Sesame Street Brushy Brush Elmo (84.7 dB at 0 inches)
• 73.3 dB: Start Up Circuits (tested the whistling siren circuit – 87.7 dB at 0 inches)
• 74.7 dB: Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Rumble & Count Piggy Bank (88.8 dB at 0 inches)

75 dB – 90 dB – held 10 inches away

• 76.3 dB: Scout’s Learning Lights Remote Deluxe (90.7 dB at 0 inches)
• 76.6 dB: Land of B.™ Woofer’s Musical Driving Wheel (89.1 dB at 0 inches)
• 77.4 dB: Fisher-Price® Linkimals™ Counting Koala (86.5 dB at 0 inches)
• 78.2 dB: Lights & Sounds Ricky (82.1 dB at 0 inches)
• 79.3 dB: Blippi Recycling Truck (86.6 dB at 0 inches)
• 79.5 dB: Chomp & Count Dino™ (94.3 dB at 0 inches)
• 79.6 dB: Spin & Sing Alphabet Zoo™ (92.1 dB at 0 inches)
• 80 dB: Fisher-Price® Little People Swing & Share Treehouse (92.2 dB at 0 inches)
• 83.8 dB: Batman: The Caped Crusader™ Voice Changing Mask (92.6 dB at 0 inches)
• 89.0 dB: Baby Einstein® Glow & Discover Light Bar™ (104 dB at 0 inches)
• 89.2 dB: Fisher-Price® Little People® Travel Together Airplane (105.1 dB at 0 inches)
• 89.7 dB: Little Baby Bongo Drums (105.5 dB at 0 inches)

Depending on your child’s age, they will likely be holding the toy close to their face, probably less than 10 inches away. This means a variety of the toys listed above could, over prolonged use, lead to hearing loss. Now that you have this information in hand, you have the power to make safe choices in the gifts you buy.

If you have any other questions, be it about pediatric hearing loss, or for more information on hearing aids, we can help. Give us a call, we’re here for you!