Sleep Sound Machines may Damage Hearing in Infants

A recent study shows that sound machines specifically designed to help infants get a good night's rest may actually do more harm than good.

According to researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada, these machines produce white noise and babbling sounds to "help" babies sleep. Yet the devices can also impair hearing in infants, which could potentially produce a disastrous effect to children who are overexposed to the products.

"These machines are capable of generating hazardous levels of noise," said study author Dr. Blake Papsin of Toronto's Sick Kid's Hospital, via the report. "These can deliver noise at industrial levels above that which we would consider safe for industry."

He also notes that even when the devices are at maximum volume, they exceed the safe levels for adult occupational noise. "Maybe they're not good for the baby," he said, via the Huffington Post. "Maybe they don't' want to hear a heart sound. Maybe they want to hear their environment."

For the study, researches tested the sound levels of 14 sound machines played at maximum volume at 30, 100 and 200 centimeters away from an appliance that modeled a six-month-old's ear canal. The researchers then found that the sound devices were placed at 30 and 100 centimeter distances, all of the machines exceeded 50 decibels, which is the current recommended noise level for infants. And even at 200 centimeters away, researchers found that 13 of the machines surpassed the recommended noise limit.

For three of the machines, the noise levels also reached over 80 dBA. Anything that played above 80 dBA for over 8 hours went beyond the recommended noise limit even for adults, according to researchers, and could delay the development of hearing in children.

"The main message is that off-the-rack machines-three of them-at certain conditions are capable of producing hazardous levels of sounds," said Dr. Black Papsin, the reports lead study author, via American Live Wire. "I'm not saying they were (producing hazardous sound), but they were capable." 

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Pediatrics.