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.
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 recognised 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.
Gamers often play at high-intensity sound levels and for several hours at a time, they add. And one estimate indicates that there were more than 3 billion gamers worldwide in 2022.
Reported sound levels ranged from 43.2 decibels (dB) (mobile devices) up to 80-89 dB (gaming centres) while length of noise exposure varied by mode and frequency of access–from daily to once a month, for at least an hour at a time, averaging 3 hours/week.
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