According to a recent scientific study, video game players, who are often exposed for prolonged periods to excessively high sound levels, are more likely to develop hearing loss.
Since their creation in the 1970s, video games have continued to conquer new users to the point of becoming one of the largest cultural industries. In 2022, for example, there will be more than three billion players worldwide. But if video games have recognized benefits for their fans – including learning, creativity, memory or even concentration – they also have their share of disadvantages. Indeed, players can suffer from several disorders such as addiction, social isolation and even vision problems. At the same time, the eternal debate concerning video games which make certain users violent – in particular because of their lack of discernment between fiction and reality – still continues to intrigue the uninitiated. But that’s not all ! As revealed by a study published in the BMJ Public Healthon Tuesday January 16, 2024 – in which scientists analyzed 14 reports involving more than 50,000 players from 9 different countries – video games can also cause hearing loss.
Among the numerous surveys that were carried out during this study, some looked at so-called noisy games which are offered on consoles, on computers, in arcades or even on smartphones. Unfortunately, the specialists’ conclusions are not optimistic. According to them, regular players, who are mainly represented by men – because they play longer and with a higher volume than women – have a greater risk of partial deafness. The most common pathology concerns a reduction in the perception of certain sounds. “This results in a reduced perception of the weakest sounds, such as whispers, or even high-frequency high-pitched sounds, such as ‘sss’ or ‘fff’ explained Paul Avan, director of the center for research and innovation in human audiology (CERIAH) at the Institut Pasteur, during an exchange with Le Figaro. In addition to this particularly worrying phenomenon, players can also develop tinnitus which can appear occasionally. In some cases, the ringing can even become irreversible.
These hearing problems are the consequence of too much noise emitted by players’ headsets. To try to immerse yourself in universes such as the War of Call of Duty or the car races of Gran Turismo, gamers unfortunately tend to leave the volume on their headphones too high. As a reminder, the WHO recommends that adults not listen to sound volumes greater than and equivalent to 80 decibels (dB) for forty hours during the same week. For children, the organization revises this figure to 75 dB for forty hours per week. Especially since this exposure time is halved for each 3 dB increase. Thus, adults should avoid being exposed to 83 dB for more than twenty hours per week or to 86 dB for more than ten hours, etc.
To deal with this new problem, specialists want to make players aware of the risks they run.. “Not to mention that games are not the only daily source of noise: add listening time in transport, in nightclubs (> 102 dB), in stadiums (> 105 dB), but also in screeching of the metro for example which easily exceeds 85 decibels”explains Paul Avan, specifying that it would be wise for players to invest in noise reduction headphones. “Then it is the responsibility of the authorities and game creators to include for example daily counters which could indicate in the form of an alert if the daily sound level has been exceeded or by permanently displaying in the corner of the ‘display a color code with the sound intensity level, red if exceeded’, concludes Laurent Tavernier, director of the ENT department at Besançon University Hospital, with the Figaro.