In theory, providing relaxing sounds of crashing waves in the ocean or crickets chirping in the night seems like a relatively peaceful way for your baby to go to sleep. In practice, however, these sounds might be causing severe harm to an infant’s ears. New evidence into whether using specially designed sound machines used for helping to put a baby to sleep might be damaging their hearing.
Professors from the University of Toronto published a new study in the journal Pediatrics that is focused on exploring whether or not these sleeping machines are exposing children’s ears to dangerous decibel levels. First, the researchers gathered 14 different types of sleeping machines all of the machines being ones that are widely distributed throughout Canada and the United States.
The professors then analyzed the decibel levels that were produced at full volume from the machines, while also measuring the strength of the noise from different areas of the room. Using a device that imitated the hearing equivalent of a six-month-old child’s ear canal, the machines were placed within 30, 100 and 200 centimeters within the baby hearing replica mechanism. To put the distances into perspective, 30 cm represents the machine right next to a crib where a baby is sleeping, 100 cm would be relatively close to a crib while 200 cm could be located across a standard room.
Using pre-recorded settings that were available on the sleeping machines, such as rain drops, thunder crashing and bird noises, the researchers found that three of the devices in question exceeded dB levels of 85 when placed from a distance of 30 cm away, which could cause hearing damage to a full-grown adult. Overall, the sound levels from all of the machines ranged from 68.8 to 92.9 dBs when set 30 cm apart.
Even when placed from 200 cm away, the devices displayed a range of sound levels from 45 to 80 dB. Any sound that goes over 50 dB has the potential to cause hearing loss within a newborn child. It is also important to consider that not only are these machines exhibiting loud dB levels to infant ears, but they are generally played all throughout the night, leaving a baby’s ears at risk for a number of hours. The researchers also noted that there were no proper instructions provided by the machines for telling parents how long the devices should be played, or how close the machines should sit next to an infant.
Hearing loss solutions for children
While further research is necessary to prove a stronger link between auditory damage and these infant sleeping machines, the dB levels they are producing is alarming. Child hearing loss is primarily hard to detect in kids, because it is easy to dismiss symptoms as merely being caused by shyness or childhood irritability.
According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 3 out of every 1,000 babies born in the U.S. will have some variation of permanent hearing loss, making it one of the most common birth defects in the country. A few telltale signs regarding if an infant could have hearing loss include:
- Not startled or unphased by loud noises
- No reaction or response given to familiar voices
- The child hasn’t spoken single words by 15 months of age
The best way to help prevent symptoms of auditory impairment is by engaging in routine checkups for you as well as your child. Schedule appointments with audiologists as often as possible to ensure that you or a love one’s precious hearing is still in tact.
