Vietnam doctor warns of danger posed by Chinese device in children’s knit cap

January 15, 2016 | 10:37

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A parent in northern Vietnam has recently reported that a knit cap she bought for her son usually emits an annoying noise after a week of using it.

According to her post on the Internet, after her son told her about the cap, the mother in Nam Dinh Province who purchased it from a local market said she checked the headgear and found a plastic box hidden in the earflaps.

The 2cm x 4cm box embossed with the text “Made in China” has three small batteries and emits annoying, buzzing and constant sounds when a button inside it is hit.

Except the box part, the headwear looks just like a normal knit cap.

The text “Made in China” on the box. Photo: Tuoi Tre

It is sold not only in Nam Dinh but also in Hanoi.

But a representative of the Hanoi market management team said it has yet to find any of such caps.

He called on people to report to local market watchdogs if they find the cap on sale anywhere in the capital.

According to Vo Quang Thanh, director of the Hanoi-based Ear Nose Throat Central Hospital, the sound from the cap is a kind of noise pollution which can cause auditory and neurological tiredness.

He added the closer to the ears the box is, the louder and more disturbing the noise becomes, especially to kids who have not been able to speak.

If children keep wearing the cap without their parents realizing the sound, their health could be adversely affected.

Thanh noted that there are neck pillows accompanied by music boxes for people who travel by plane or car, but he emphasized that it is soft music which is to help people feel comfortable on long journeys and the boxes are put far from the ears so as not to harm people’s hearing.

Chiếc
The box is hidden in the earflaps. Photo: Tuoi Tre