The use of noise-making toys as audiometric devices

For a considerable period of time in the literature concerned with pediatric audiology--or, more specifically, audiometry for infants--it has been suggested that one should or should not use measurable noise-making toys as stimulus devices. Proponents of their use suggest that they are intrinsically more attractive to infants and therefore enhance responsiveness. Opponents of the use of such devices have based their claims on the idea that the signal produced by such devices are neither calibrated nor replicable. It is probably the case that both positions are correct, and this leaves the practitioner without expert advice. The study reported here is a simple electroacoustic evaluation of a set of such toys which are now commercially available. The experiment consisted of having two persons use each device 3 times according to the instructions provided with the materials. The toys consist of a bell, a horn, two rattles, and a squeaking toy. The signals produced by these several repetitions of the toys were subjected to one-third octave band analysis by a Bruel and Kjaer Model 2112 spectrometer. A result showed that the signals produced by these toys are indeed replicable, but generally have such flat spectra that they may not be selectively useful except as gross screening devices.