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.
I think what they are trying to say is, how can it be that a person knows about and understands that loud sounds in every other context can damage your hearing, and yet never realized that loud sounds in video games are bad in the same way as everything else
I would say that the article points out is isn’t so obvious, and therefore should be brought to more peoples attention. I guess I’m reading into it too much. And also too dumb to realize growing up that yeah, gaming was just as bad as going to aconcert.