Just like your children looked forward to opening their presents during the holiday season, you were excited to see their reactions as they opened the gift they first spotted at Kids at Heart.
However, experts warn that some toys can cause permanent damage to your child’s hearing. That doesn’t mean you have to take the toy away – it just means you should pay attention to how loud your child’s toy is and take other precautions if necessary.
How Loud Is Too Loud?
If your child plays with their toy all day long – or for more than eight hours – it should not exceed 85 dB. For reference, this is about the volume of passing highway traffic or a busy café.
Keep in mind, a toy that doesn’t seem loud to you may be much louder to your child. This is because children have much shorter arms, meaning the toy will be held closer to their ears. Small children are also likely to hold the toy’s speaker up to their face.
Loudest Toys of 2021
The organization Sight & Hearing put together a list of the loudest toys of 2021 and their decibel outputs at 0 inches away:
- Disney Moana Squeeze and Scream HeiHei: 109.7 dB
- DJ Mix & Spin Studio: 107.8 dB
- Outdoor Discovery™ Hoot n’ Holler Animal Caller: 104.5 dB
- 4-in-1 Ultimate Learning Bot: 103.6 dB
- Baby Einstein™ Neptune’s Friends Play-a-Sound® Book: 102.6 dB
- Light & Sound Garbage Truck: 99.5 dB
- Peppa Pig™ Learn & Discover Book: 98.4 dB
- Laugh & Learn® On-the-Glow™ Coffee Cup: 96.0 dB
- Dino’s Delightful Day Book™: 94.5 dB
- Rock & Bop Music Player™: 94.3 dB
- Scout My Peek-a-Boo LapPup: 92.7 dB
- Bright Beats™ Juniors BeatBo™: 91.4 dB
- Paw Patrol™ Rescue Mission Dashboard: 91.1 dB
- Crawl Along Musical Unicorn: 89.6 dB
- Cocomelon Musical Yellow School Bus: 89.2 dB
- Peek-a-Roo™ Panda-Roo and Baby™: 89.1 dB
- Fun Sounds Hammer: 88.4 dB
- Little Learner™ Roll ‘n Glow Robot: 86.6 dB
- Peanuts Snoopy Goes to Space Book and Flashlight Set: 86.0 dB
- furReal Snackin’ Sam the Bronto: 84.7 dB
- Little Learner™ My First Little Bot: 84.6 dB
- Pets Alive Poppy the Booty Shakin’ Pug!: 84.5 dB
- PJ Masks Time to Be a Hero Learning Tablet: 82.8 dB
- Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon Baby Tuk Tuk Toy: 78.4 dB
What to Do with a Loud Toy
You spent your hard-earned money on your child’s toy; besides, taking it away would devastate them – so what do you do?
- You can remove the batteries if your child won’t notice or care.
- You can make sure your child holds the toy at least 10 inches from their face.
- You can place a piece of packing tape over the speaker. One study found that placing packing tape over the speaker of popular toys reduced the sound pressure level from an average of 103.9 dB to 87.9 dB.
For more tips or to schedule an appointment for a hearing exam, call Mt. Hood ENT & Allergy today.