Interactive Toys Can Damage Kids' Hearing.

• Position: Brief Article

As interactive toys become more popular with children and their parents, a new safety issue is emerging--sound levels. Although the toy industry has gone to great lengths to establish strict safety regulations for hazards such as choking and strangulation, volume guidelines are vague. The American Society for Testing of Materials' Specification on Toy Safety mandates only that toy volume not exceed 138 decibels when measured about 10 inches from the toy--a volume louder than the sound produced by a jackhammer (regular conversation takes place at about 60 decibels). Despite the fact that experts agree that continued exposure to noise above 85 decibels can cause serious damage, the League of Hard of Hearing reports that many toys on the market today measure over 110 decibels. (Decibels are measured on a logarithmic scale, so 110 decibels is twice as loud as 100 decibels.)

"Many toys designed to stimulate children can be dangerously loud" notes Nancy Nadler, director of the Noise Center for the League of Hard of Hearing. "Since current regulations are inadequate to protect our children from dangerously loud toys, parents must take it upon themselves to listen to the toy the way a child would play with it. If it sounds too loud, it probably is and don't buy it...