Three of the loudest toys the Sight & Hearing Association tested for this year's noisy toys campaign are books meant for a child 18-months-old.

"Pooh's Playful Songs," "Dora the Explorer Choo Choo," and "Finding Nemo Splashy Songs," (all Play-a-Song® or Play-a-Sound® books), sounded off at 107, 102 dB and 100 dB, respectively.

Exposure to noise levels above 85 dB(A) for eight hours is the Federal threshold for hearing protection. Levels above 90 dB(A) can cause permanent hearing loss with relatively short exposure.

"The message this year is 'beware of books with buttons,'" said Julee Sylvester, Sight & Hearing Association spokesperson. "It's quite surprising that something so simple as a book could actually be hazardous to hearing. That's the bad news. The good news is that a lot of the toys we found this year were not as loud as those on last year's list."

Up until this year, there have been no regulations in the United States regarding the loudness of toys. A new acoustics standard (ASTM F963), adopted and revised in March 2004, states that toys cannot exceed 90 dB 25 cm from the surface of the toy. This is a fair standard, according to Sylvester.

"I am very pleased that the toy industry and consumer safety groups have realized that acoustics is an important part of toy safety," she said. "I hope the toy manufacturers will follow these voluntary guidelines."

As an incentive for toy manufacturers to create quiet toys, the Sight & Hearing Association debuts an "Ear-Friendly" list this year. The list contains a handful of sound-producing toys the association recommends as safe to hearing. Among those are Hasbro's Search and Rescue Buzz Lightyear and Fisher-Price's Toby the TotBot.

Because of a child's shorter arm span, toys are often potentially more dangerous because children hold them closer to their ears.In the Sight & Hearing Association study, the toys were tested at distances simulating how a child might hold the toy, directly near the ear (0 inches) and at arm's length (12 inches or 30.5 cm). A soundproof booth was used to ensure an accurate recording.

Unlike with choking hazards and other injuries, there are no injury statistics on toys and hearing loss. That's because noise-induced hearing loss is nearly impossible to track its origination.

"Unless it's a single loud event, you don't realize you have a hearing loss until years later," explains Sylvester. "Noise-induced hearing loss is cumulative. It gradually happens over time. It's also one of the only injuries that is painless, so you don't realize it's happened until it's too late. That's why it's important to protect hearing at a young age."

To protect your children, here are a few tips:

• Listen to a toy before you buy it. Hold it close to your face. If it sounds loud to you, it's too loud for your child.
• Report a loud toy. Call the Consumer Product Safety Commission at 800/638-2772 or the Sight & Hearing Association at 651/645-2546.
• Put masking or packing tape over the speaker on the toy. This will create a sound barrier and will reduce the volume.

2004 "Ear-Friendly" Toys
Toy	Manufacturer	Age Group	Type of Toy	dB (0 inches)	dB (12 inches)
Care Bears™ Share Bear™ Talking Telephone	Play Along, Inc.	12+ months	Hand	74	63
Toy Story Search and Rescue Buzz Lightyear	Hasbro	4+	Hand	75	67
Toby the TotBot	Fisher-Price/Mattel	1+	Table-top	77	65
Block Buddies® My Musical Farm™	Mega Bloks Inc.	1-5	Floor	78	65
Playskool Crawl 'n Flutter™ Bee	Hasbro	6+ months	Floor	80	68