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Video gamers worldwide may be risking irreversible hearing loss and/or tinnitus

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.

63 comments
  • 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'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.

  • I've had tinnitus since my earliest memories. Will I get tinnitus on my tinnitus? Tinnitus squared?

  • Shit man I've been suffering from hearing loss for like 20 years (partially due to infections and the rest is listening to music with headphones at high volumes), and tinnitus for at least 12.

    I'm ahead of the curve. 😎

  • Jokes on them! I don't even need to worry about video games doing it to me. I've already got some minor hearing loss in one ear from a history of childhood ear infections. That, and my other ear is probably gonna end up with hearing loss from how loud I listen to music. Games ain't got nothing on my music listening habit!

63 comments