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December 12, 2006
Airbags cause tinnitus in kids
Car airbags could cause children the hearing condition tinnitus and breathing problems because of the piercing noise they make when they inflate and the chemicals they let out, experts have warned. Although they have been hugely successful in preventing deaths and injuries in accidents they are designed for adults and must be switched off if youngsters sit in the front.
But many parents unaware of the risks place children behind airbags in any case, reports New Scientist.
Now Dr Manoj Mittal and colleagues at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania have pinpointed the dangers kids face from both the 170-decibel bang as the bag inflates and the hot explosive particulates that puff into the car as the bag deflates after the crash.
Tinnitus is well known in adults who have been saved by an airbag - but Dr Mittal's study is the first to quantify the risk to kids in the front seat.
In 4,800 car crashes in the US involving 7,400 children he found those sitting in the front of a car were 14 times more likely to suffer tinnitus when the airbag inflated than a child seated in the back.
"Parents and healthcare workers should be aware of this potential for both tinnitus and respiratory distress," says Dr Mittal whose findings will be published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.
Manufacturers need to work out how to deploy airbags fast enough to protect passengers without the huge pressure wave that affects hearing, says senior audiologist Angela King of London's Royal National Institute for the Deaf
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CA731851U&news_headline=airbags_cause_tinnitus_in_kids
Posted by 4HL on December 12, 2006 6:00 AM
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