Video gamers worldwide may be risking irreversible hearing loss and/or tinnitus—persistent ringing/buzzing in the ears—finds a systematic review of the available evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health.
What evidence there is suggests that the sound levels reported in studies of more than 50,000 people often near, or exceed, permissible safe limits, conclude the researchers.
And given the popularity of these games, greater public health efforts are needed to raise awareness of the potential risks, they urge.
While headphones, earbuds, and music venues have been recognized as sources of potentially unsafe sound levels, relatively little attention has been paid to the effects of video games, including e-sports, on hearing loss, say the researchers.
What a dumbass click bait headline.
Has less to do with video games, and more to do with how loudly people are listening to them.
I was in middle school when earbuds came out in the early 2000s and I remember the exact same idiot bait news headlines about ipods, I’m sure there’s a 70’s equivalent for headphones. It seems like journalists think the concept of volume is totally alien to humanity, regardless of time period.
Why is this receiving such hate? I’m one of those affected, and it would make sense that video games were a huge reason why I have such bad ringing in my ears. It should absolutely be taught that playing video games runs the same risks as going to a concert, ear buds, headphones.
I’m confident we have all went to play a game, and not realized that our headset volume had been set to max. Definitely a personal feeling, but I wish someone had said maybe pay better attention before playing video games.
Edit: My point is, I’m one of those dumb people who would not have realized that gaming was on the same level as going to a concert. I could’ve used a nice little reality snap that this articles title gives. I only want to provide a second opinion, and hopefully entice someone else to read the article and give it a chance. We all know many people check comments before reading an article.
Because the issue isn’t the video games fault. Any gamer in danger of damaging their hearing from playing games, is likely in danger of the same damage from listening to music or talking on the phone at high volume, also.
Reasonable people can already figure out that listening to anything too loud is bad for their hearing. This article is a nothing burger, and the title uses fear-mongering/hate bait to get you to read it.
I am glad it is so obvious to you, however I am still thankful that articles like these get a chance to reach those who are unaware.
Because its not a fear monger, it is simply true for anyone unaware.
I can’t even begin to imagine how a person that is capable of reading and comprehending the article as well as hearing sounds would be unaware that LOUD SOUNDS HURT EARS.
Maybe read the actual article then. I say this in a dickish tone, because it is not “simply loud noises” and it makes everyone else sound like an idiot in comparison to you.
I have read the article. It doesn’t suggest that the games themselves are using sounds too loud, only that many gamers listen to them at higher than safe volumes.
Yes, exactly because it is not obvious that this will cause damage to their ears. I’m sorry, im hungry, but what are you trying to argue if you just agreed with me? It is not a hate/fear mongering article if its point is to bring attention to those unaware.
I’m not sure if the original was edited, or if im absolutely bonkers but I swore you used the words hate/fearmongering and not dumbass.
Turn your volume down, bros.
I SAID TURN THE VOLUME DOWN.
I would if you would stop making that non-stop ringing sound.
(I didn’t realize I had tinnitus until I learned that not everyone hears a high pitch whine 24/7. My brain will tune it out naturally unless it’s really quiet or someone mentions it. Like, now.)
I’ve had a minor tinnitus since I was a kid, which I tend to be able to ignore most of the time because I’m preoccupied with other stuff, but the talks about tinnitus in the Escape From Tarkov community reminded me of the phenomenon, and I’ve been aware of my own tinnitus ever since.
Same as you now - won’t hear it unless I remember about it and can’t turn my mind to something else.
If you don’t notice it every time it’s not tininitus just the normal background noise of the ears functioning.
That’s a fun way of thinking about it but nope. It’s Tinnitus.
Maybe a more mild case but nope, definitely still tinnitus.
I have sensitive hearing towards higher frequency sounds (10khz+) and I’ve always listened at pretty low volumes (like 10-20% on windows for most headphones, even less on my easier-to-drive earbuds). Unfortunately for me I still ended up getting tinnitus but it’s only noticeable when I actively think about it or when I’m trying to sleep.
Seriously though, tinnitus is awful, it makes sleeping so much harder.
I see, thanks for the information!
Well, its a pitch that never really stops and does overlap with some frequencies enough to be annoying.
It’s not that I stop hearing it. It’s just that I have had this for so long my brain comprehends it as “normal” and it doesn’t hold my attention. Part of the psychology(?) is that I grew up around technology. Hearing PC fans or capacitor whine most of the time was normal for me as long as he pitch is steady. The pitch I hear is almost exactly like an old CRT, actually.
I’m jealous! Mine only is tuned out if I listen to something loud, and I don’t enjoy the headaches more than the tinnitus.
How did you get tinnitus, if you want to share?
I think I have always had it to some degree? I began to realize something was off when I was in the Navy and they discovered I was missing some of my high range hearing in weird spots. My work on a flight deck didn’t help either, I am sure. If you haven’t stood close to a turbofan engines at full power, it’s an interesting experience. And loud.
I have always liked extremely loud music and hard hitting bass. That likely contributed as well.
Tinnitus sucks ass… seriously take care of your hearing.
Can confirm. Like… guys… it’s bad. You can definitely end up having dark thoughts. Don’t fuck around. Use ear protection where needed, and check your volume settings!
I’ve had tinnitus for decades, and it SUCKS. I’ve always been careful for my hearing, but after a concussion it arrived and never went away.
I play games with most sounds off. I can’t use headphones, wearing them gives me a migraine no matter the volume.
I’ve had hearing tests, seen a specialist. I have no hearing loss, but I do have misaphonia and tinnitus. The combination is pure hell, there is no respite.
I can’t distinguish voices in chats well enough to follow what’s being said if more than one person is talking. It’s even worse online when I can’t lip read to decode what’s being said.
Project your earholes.
Sorry to hear that
Can you drown out the tinnitus with more volume?
Not as a rule, no. I end up with a bigger headache and more ringing.
Every time I open a new game, the volume is set to the absolute max, which is orders of magnitude louder than any other sound on my computer. When I go to change the sound settings, I usually have to put the slider comically low before it gets to an acceptable volume range. At that point fine tuning it becomes kind of difficult.
Seriously, why can’t most games get volume right?
Just laziness or ignorance, I made a game and set the volume to 30% by default (it was a bit quiet for my setup), there were no loud splash screens, just some music on the menu - why that is so difficult for developers to do, I don’t understand.
It’s also an extra crime when they force an unskippable cutscene on you or start a tutorial before you can even access the options screen. The very first screen you should get, should be the fucking options.
GeminiTay streamed Stardew Valley and this was one of her main complaints. The menu never lets you adjust the sound and the game starts with an unskippable scene.
Yup its stupid af. I can adjust my game volume on the fly with the setup I have, so it’s always nice to turn that shit down or mute it when I start up a game, but the fact I have to is insane.
You could prep volume mixer too, and tab out when the game launches to turn it down. Or developers could just not put loud splash/logo screens at max volume.
Agreed. The funny thing is some games go the other way around but still kind of get it wrong: Games where the options are a part of a launcher, so you don’t actually get to experience your changes as you make them. I guess that’s still better than just throwing you into a loud cutscene on startup though.
But seriously. When the game loads, I want the sound to be set to as low as possible, then just give me a slider that plays a sample sound that I can increase until it’s right.
Best game ever for sounds (in this context), imho, is dysmantle. People have described the sound track as “hikers listening to birds”. Music only happens in specific places, it’s mostly very relaxing/peaceful, and other than that it’s just listening to occasional zombies/turrets, environmental sounds, audio recordings, and breaking stuff.
I always turn the music and sfx way down (voice stays pretty high, sfx about 20% lower, and music very low) so I legit didn’t notice the lack of music for 22 hours of actual play time (out of the about 100 I put into it). But I didn’t change the sound settings at all for it, it was perfect.
Fuckin great game.
Most games get it right, didbyou try lowering the global system volume down? Mines only at 20%.
My system volume is consistently at 8-20% on windows (~30-40% on Linux because it’s a bit quieter usually) but every time I open a game I can’t hear myself think. I always have to turn the volume way lower (~30-50% game volume?) to be a volume I’m comfortable playing at.
Yeah. I usually have my system volume sub 20%. Things like videos, system sounds, voice calls, etc all sound reasonable at that volume. It’s just a lot of games that end up way too loud relatively to that.
On my last pair of headphones I had to set windows to like 2% until I eventually downloaded equalizer apo and set it to make everything like -20db
Weird, I don’t have this problem. Probably some bullshit manufacturers “gaming mode elite” software package setting.
Some games I play I do find I have to crank dialog up and effects/music down.
Because it’s not what people want. They want loud, because louder is considered better in social consciousness. That has been the trend for decades.
Yeah I hate this, even with windows at like 25% most games are still defaulting to too loud
Often they are just terribly mixed for headphones too.
Especially shooters where the sfx of the guns are just way too loud for how often they are repeated and in comparison to everything else.
I’d almost like to see a shooter game where everyone has silencers on just for the improved acoustics and not destroying ears without messing with settings (and you don’t want to lower footstep sfx even if you want to lower gunshot sfx and they are rarely separate sliders).
Glad there’s attention on this.
Another area that would probably be wise to study is increased resistance in haptics and possible arthritis or repeated strain injuries long term.
Yeah, gunshots really loud, footsteps really quiet is common.
Footsteps very soft you might even say.
Huh, What?!
-Artillery men, Rock/Metal bands
I played video games for 22 years: no hearing loss
Practiced bagpipes indoor, big room, a few times: like 30dB hearing loss.
Idk
bagpipes are the loudest thing I’ve ever experienced, those things are a silent killer
Now think of the damage you could’ve caused the rest of us!
We’re saved!
Who use earbuds or those big heaphones past like 12 years old lol
Adukts sit in their car in silence
🤨
I have Windows volume mixer open all the time. I have developed a habit of pulling the volume down to 10-15% on every new window/app that I open because I hate sudden unstoppable loudness.
Imagine if you could do it for the entire system!
Lol. I still want my loudness ceiling to be loud, which is why I leave my speakers/headphones/system volume turned up. However, I like it when it’s on my terms, so I manually turn down specific programs.
Check an app called ear trumpet. It gives you way finer control over the volume of everything
Mate i just mute and make the sounds in my head
Airpod type devices should be looked at as well, lots of people are gonna have fucked ears for a long time.
You mean earbuds?
WHAT!?
BOOM HEADSHOT.
Ohh fuckin hacks mate.
It would be nice if there was a pre-game audio slider like some games have brightness sliders.
Like volume mixer in windows?
No worries for me, I’ve had tinnitus for over 40 years, pretty sure it’s neurological for me, not hearing related.
HUH, WHAT DID YOU SAY?
CounterStrike and all it’s variations was always nuts with this to me, ‘I have the voltume up to hear the footsteps bro’ -KACHOW- “BUT THE HOUSE IS SHAKING” ‘yeah this noob has an AWP, so of course I also have an mmhph’ -THE AUDIENCE IS NOW DEEEF-
One of the reasons I stopped playing, does 2 have a loudness range option? Once I discovered that option on my tv I never got jumpscared by an explosion ever again just because I had the volume up to listen to a conversation.
Windows has a compression mode called Loudness Equalization built in
