Loud toys may cause hearing damage for your kids

According to a Harvard study, one in five U.S. adolescents showed some degree of hearing loss during 2005-2006, whereas previously it was one in seven.

With the holidays creeping up and kids wanting noisy toys, mp3 players, and more, how can we protect our kids' hearing?

Michelle Michaels, a hard of hearing specialist for the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing, warns of the dangers of hearing loss due to loud toys.

She says that in first grade, only about 1 percent of all kids have hearing loss, but by the time they are teenagers, 20 percent of all kids have hearing loss.

Children’s ears are more sensitive than adults, so what is really loud to you as an adult is probably a lot more damaging for a child. She adds that any toy over 85 decibels may be harmful to our hearing and that 100 decibels can cause hearing damage in 15 minutes.

She offered some advice on how parents can be proactive when it comes to these noisy toys.

One way of telling if a toy is too loud without measuring the decibels is to listen to the toy; if it sounds too loud for you as an adult it is most likely too loud for your child.

Also be careful with MP3 players, like iPods or personal listening devices and toys with speakers. She says these types of toys should be limited in the amount of hours your child can use it. Also suggest placing heavy thick tape over toys that have speakers and use the volume control. Michaels also recommends that if your child is going to attend a concert or venue where the noise can get really loud to have them wear headphones.