13-year-old girls proves hand dryers can cause serious damage to a child’s hearing

It's not something that I've ever thought of.

As parents, we try to make ourselves as aware as possible to the things that may cause harm to our children. Sometimes it takes a child themselves to point out obvious dangers that as adults we often take for granted. This was the case with a study conducted by 13-year-old Nora Keegan who proved that hand dryers pose a serious risk to young children, particularly their hearing. [caption id="attachment_356940" align="aligncenter" width="924"] Nora Keegan ( A Mighty Girl)[/caption] Nora noticed at a young age that her ears would start ringing every time she was around someone using a hand dryer. Soon afterwards she began investigating why exactly this occurred. The 13-year-old Canadian wanted to find out if there really was a safe operating noise level for hand dryers when it comes to the hearing of children. Keegan, whose paper has been published in the Oxford Academic found that most hand dryers operate at levels that are too high for children, causing their hearing damage.

"Many dryers operated much louder than their manufacturers claimed, usually greater than 100 dBA (the maximum allowable noise level for products/toys meant for children). This study suggests that many hand dryers operate at levels far louder than their manufacturers claim and at levels that are clearly dangerous to children’s hearing."

It's something that had never crossed my mind before but it completely makes sense. Many parents will put on ear defenders when bringing their children to loud environments like concerts but we often forget the day to day things that may pose health risks to our children.