Gamers, the tinnitus ringing in your ears is permanent damage
There are an estimated 3.6 billion gamers worldwide, which is almost half of the world’s population. This includes all different types of gaming – from casually playing on your smartphone to more serious PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo players.
For the more serious gamers, there’s a silent threat lurking: your hearing.
Gaming brings with it a huge risk of hearing loss and tinnitus, and both can be permanent. In this blog, we’ll discuss if your ears are likely to be affected and what you can do to prevent damaging them.
Are you in danger of hearing loss or tinnitus as a gamer?
The gaming set-up you have can be a huge contributor to whether or not your ears are in danger of damage. High-quality gaming headphones like the Audeze Maxwell or Logitech G Pro X2 Lightspeed can create an immersive experience, but they come with significant risks to your hearing.
These headphones can reach dangerously high volumes, exceeding 100 dB, which is comparable to the noise level of a rock concert or chainsaw. Exposure to impulse sounds like explosions can even reach 119 dB which is similar to standing next to a jet plane.
Prolonged exposure to such loud sounds can lead to noise-induced hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, a staggering 15% of Americans aged between 20 and 69 already suffer from hearing loss due to exposure to loud sounds.
The risk isn’t just about the volume but also the duration of exposure. In the UK, the safe limit is 85 dB for 8 hours, but every 3 dB increase halves the safe exposure time. For example, at 100 dB, your ears can start to sustain damage after just 15 minutes. So, if your gaming headphones hit 100 dB, technically, you can only wear them for 15 minutes before they start to damage your ears.
What damage are you doing to your hearing?
A recent British Medical Journal article did a systematic review of the evidence involving 50,000 people and highlighted a minimum of two life-changing conditions that you can experience with noise-induced hearing loss:
1. Tinnitus
This is often described as a constant ringing, buzzing, or humming sound that appears in either your ears or somewhere inside your head and it isn’t being produced by an external source.
Depending on the volume and the duration of the sound that you’re exposed to, your tinnitus may be temporary and come and go, or it may be permanent. Tinnitus can vary from a low-pitched roar to a high-pitched squeal, and it may be present in one or both ears.
Typically, it’s more noticeable in quiet environments and you’ll usually be more aware of it at night when you’re trying to get to sleep. In the long term, tinnitus sufferers might have difficulty concentrating and sleeping, and it can significantly impact your quality of life – but it’s also 100% avoidable.
If you’re already experiencing tinnitus, Harley Street Hearing’s tinnitus treatment services can help.
2. Noise-induced hearing loss
High volume levels in gaming put you at greater risk of developing noise-induced hearing loss but this can be prevented with suitable hearing protection. This is a key reason why you’ll see workers on a building site wearing hearing protection, as the sound levels they’re being exposed to are similar to those experienced through gaming headphones.
Noise-induced hearing loss can be deceptive, as it primarily affects your ability to hear high frequencies which are crucial for understanding speech clarity. Whilst you may still hear low tones and recognise that someone is speaking, the clarity and detail of speech will be lost, making conversations sound muffled as if talking through a wall. This can make distinguishing words particularly difficult, even though you can still hear voices.
This type of hearing loss results in conversations, especially those in noisy environments, becoming particularly difficult to understand. It’s likely that if you experience noise-induced hearing loss due to gaming you’ll need a hearing aid in the near future – again, this is 100% avoidable.
How to prevent noise-induced hearing loss from gaming
Now, recommending stopping gaming altogether isn’t feasible nor what we would advise. However, there are three key tips that can help protect your hearing while gaming:
- Apply the 60/60 rule: Keep the volume at 60% of the maximum and limit your exposure to 60 minutes per day, ideally keeping the volume below 85 dB.
- Take breaks: Every hour, take a 15-20 minute break to give your ears a rest, even if you’re a pro gamer.
- Invest in noise-cancelling headphones: These will allow you to block out external noise without needing to increase the volume.
Following the above tips means you’ll be able to continue gaming safely, and your ears will thank you in the long run.
GAMERS – WARNING: The Tinnitus Ringing in Your Ears is Permanent Damage
Matthew Allsop is a Partner at Harley Street Hearing and the content creator for Hearing Tracker, where he shares his honest opinions on all things to do with hearing health and hearing aid technology. Hearing Tracker is the world’s first truly independent resource for hearing aid customers. You can watch his video on the dangers of gaming, tinnitus and hearing loss below.
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