Are children's toys getting louder? Parents who stroll through any large chain store might swear it's true: Computer games, designed for ever-younger kids, emit an assortment of beeps, blips, peals and shrieks.
Try to find a tractor or a bulldozer that doesn't blast a realistic engine roar or other on-the-job sound.
An ear specialist at UC Irvine says toys aren't necessarily increasing in volume, but an increasing number of them produce noise that can damage a child's hearing if sustained for long periods.
"I see lots of patients with noise-induced hearing loss, and it's such an easy thing to prevent," said Dr. Hamid Djalilian, director of Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery at UCI Medical Center's Department of Otolaryngology. "Most commonly we see the damage in later ages, 40 to 50, when we see a substantial drop in hearing.
"Ideally we'd like to educate teenagers, which are not the easiest to educate about noise. But if we can educate parents about the damage that noise can create and make them more sensitive to the issue, then I think they'll be able to shepherd their kids through their years to prevent noise damage."
Djalilian and two other researchers at UCI — doctoral student Janice Chang and Dr. Joseph Brunworth — tested a variety of popular toys for decibel levels produced at varying distances.
How much damage noise causes depends on three factors: the decibel level; how often the noise is repeated; and for how long. A person could sustain damage to the delicate hair cells inside the inner ear with noise of a short duration. For example, going to a very loud concert or nightclub can produce permanent damage within 15 minutes.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration say prolonged exposure to sound at 85 decibels or above can result in hearing damage. By comparison, a normal conversation is about 60 decibels; a garbage disposal or noisy office is about 80 decibels; a power drill or a blender is about 90 decibels; a jet plane during takeoff is 120, when heard from several hundred feet away; and jackhammers and ambulances are 130.
Of the 18 toys Djalilian and his team tested in late 2009, 13 had maximum sounds of at least 100 decibels when measured at their speakers, up close. The loudest was the Secret Saturdays Fire Sword (121 decibels), made by Mattel, followed by the Zillionz Deluxe ATM Savings Bank (115). The toys also were measured from a distance of 12 inches, about the length of a child's arm. Thirteen of the toys clocked it at 90 decibels or higher. In 2006, the first year Djalilian conducted the research at UCI, only four toys hit 90 when measured away from the ear.
Just before Christmas at UCI Medical Center, inside a double-walled testing room that resembles a bank vault, Djalilian demonstrated how the toys were tested. Three devices were used, starting with an iPhone application called SoundMeter, which costs $20. They also used Radio Shack's Sound Level Meter ($49.99), and a more sophisticated, wine bottle-shaped device made by Bruel & Kjaer 2260 Investigator, which costs thousands of dollars. The iPhone app is the most accessible for consumers, but it loses accuracy at the higher decibel ranges, Djalilian said.
First up was the Secret Saturdays Fire Sword, which plays three distinct sounds: we'll call them the whooshing jet, the buzz and the dragon scream. The jet averaged about 109 decibels at the speaker, according to informal readouts on the various devices uses; the buzz was 111; and the dragon scream hit 113.
Another sword-toy, the Batman Brave and the Bold Blazing Battle Blade (also by Mattel), has a "shingg" sound as if you're pulling the sword from its sheath. That registered 113 decibels — much higher than the 105 of the similar Dark Knight Sword tested during the team's formal research. "This one is just super-piercing," Djalilian said.
The third toy measured inside the vault was from the Zillionz ATM line, this one the pink deluxe model for girls. A pinging, echoing laser sound precedes about 20 seconds' worth of a robotic female voice: "Welcome to the ATM machine, a real automated ATM that can sit on your dresser or mount to the wall. Watch your savings grow when you deposit cash through the motorized bill feeder ..." This lands in the higher 80s.
Calls or e-mails seeking comment from three manufacturers of toys high on Djalilian's list of 18 — Mattel (based in El Segundo, Calif.), Summit Toys (the maker of Zillionz based in Birmingham, Ala.) and VTech Electronics North America (of Arlington Heights, Ill.) — were not returned.
Despite the loudness of these toys, Djalilian emphasized that they aren't inherently unsafe. Most children, after all, don't listen to their toys up close for long periods. They get bored with a toy after a while and move on. But the lesson is that parents should watch how they're played with.
"As long as it's held at arm's length, and not listened for eight hours a day, most of these toys will be safe. But children don't necessarily follow directions. It's really up to the parents to be on top of it," he said.
At the Toys R Us in Mission Viejo, Calif., Sheila Rubinstein and her husband, Larry Schultz of Monarch Beach, shopped for toys with their three children. The oldest, an 11-year-old boy, eagerly picked out the Zillionz Savings Bank. Pressing the buttons brought zips and zaps and voices, but they weren't loud enough to worry the parents.
Rubinstein said she and her husband were "very concerned" about loud toys. "They use them so much. So one of the things we do is make sure it's not too loud, and that you can adjust it."
Some toys are made with a "try me" pull tab, which produces higher sounds than normal, to make it stand out in a crowded toy store. At home, the tab is removed, lowering the volume to a more reasonable level.
"There's obviously a lot of competition on the shelves, and whatever produces the loudest noise is going to get more attention from a child," Djalilian said.
Here are the toys Dr. Djalilian and his team tested at UCI Medical Center, followed by the decibel level up close and at a distance of 12 inches:
1. Mattel The Secret Saturdays Fire Sword 121/109
2. Zillionz Deluxe ATM Savings Bank 115/106
3. Zillionz Talking Cash Register 108/100
4. VTech Nitro Web Notebook 108/100
5. VTech Touch & Teach Turtle 106/97
6. Leap Frog Learn & Groove Musical Table 106/96
7. Little Tikes Jungle Jamboree: 2-in-1 Piano/Xylophone 105/95
8. Little Tikes Poptones Big Rockers Keyboard 105/96
9. Mattel Batman Dark Knight Sword 105/95
10. First Act Discovery Rock-it Guitar 105/93
11. Hasbro Bumblebee Action Figure 104/95
12. Hasbro Transformers Bumblebee Voice Mixer 104/94
13. Elmo Rock & Roll Guitar 102/91
14. Elmo Live Encore 98/90
15. Tonka Mighty Motorized Garbage Truck 98/84
16. Zillionz Girl ATM Savings Bank 90/79
17. Matchbox Rocky the Robot Truck 86/79
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.