Ouch! Consider toys' noise

A story in Science Daily points out that several new toys emit sound at such a high decibel level that they could do some permanent damage if children put the speakers close to their ears. The University of California at Irvine tested the toys and ranked them by their noisiness. The High School Musical Rockerz Jammin Guitar, which is recommended for children age 3 and up, topped the list at 106 decibels.

I've wondered, too, about earbuds and earphones used by very young children. Gillian, my 3-year-old, doesn't have the fine-motor control to adjust the volume controls that come with headphones these days. I can't say that she's a big iPod fanatic (yet), but I know that more and more iTunes videos and music clips are being aimed at very young children.