PUBG is infamous for this problem. Much of the game is predicated on hearing quiet sounds like footsteps, while there are often loud sounds like gunshots, or even louder sounds like the C4 explosion.
Because of the assumptions based around what constitutes "cheating", players are not only strongly disincentivized from compressing and equalizing the game's audio: they are often outright banned for doing so. If you play PUBG competitively, then you are either damaging your hearing, or you are "cheating".
This is one of many reasons that anti-cheat systems do more harm than good. Once upon a time, anti-cheat simply meant choosing which players you are willing to play with. That system had no trouble accommodating accessibility. Today, that's practically impossible, because servers are hosted and moderated exclusively by the game studios themselves.
I would say PUBG in particular, having downloaded the game again recently. I've noticed that the difference in volume between a gunshots and footsteps is very different. I need to turn the volume down quite a bit to not jump when my gun fires, then hearing footsteps suffers greatly.
PUBG is the only game where gunfights seem overly loud in contrast to everything else.
Playing other Battle Royale games the volume difference isn't anywhere near as big.
Yes, but that's too much of an expense to expect from the average gamer. Compression (and other signal processing like EQ) really ought to be a feature in the OS by now.
>This is one of many reasons that anti-cheat systems do more harm than good. Once upon a time, anti-cheat simply meant choosing which players you are willing to play with. That system had no trouble accommodating accessibility. Today, that's practically impossible, because servers are hosted and moderated exclusively by the game studios themselves.
uh what?
or maybe game devs could realize that this is an issue and provide some better configurability for such stuff?
They don't want to. They have chosen their path. It's likely they don't even recognize the advantages of player-based server hosting (moderation) that they threw away.
Their biggest motivator is planned obselescence. By monopolizing the server software, they can eliminate (or shrink) the player base from an older game during the release of its sequel.
For example, Battlefield 4 has a thriving online community (with player-hosted servers), but its sequel Battlefield 1 definitely struggled to keep servers full during the release of Battlefield 5.
I don't know how valid this study is but you do not want tinnitus. I have it pretty bad and it's getting worse as I age. I wouldn't say it's ruined my life but it has severely decreased my quality of life and severely increased my anxiety and depression that lead to multiple anxiety attacks and 1 trip to the emergency room.
I didn't even get mine from loud noises, I was only 11 at the time, I'm just here to encourage everyone to not take silence for granted.
I agree that you do not want tinnitus, but you also do not want worsening eyesight and hearing, less nimbleness, etc and you get all of that as you age anyway.
I agree things in your list are also important, but I’d say for anyone having tinnitus would agree that nothing in that list compares to the constant torture of what tinnitus is.
On one hand, it is not that bad, one is not disabled by having it.
On the other hand, it is always there, there’s nothing you can do to make that easier, not even for a moment.
It’s not about ability, but what it does to you mentally.
Only current options are:
masking, which can make it worse if noise is played too loud to mask the tinnitus for too long.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, which is about adjusting your feelings toward tinnitus.
Hearing aids, which can have masking sounds built in, seem to help by amplifying other sounds going into the ears.
Some people develop hyperacusis also from masking with sounds too loud when masking sounds should be as low as possible to provide relief then be reduced further. Hyperacusis makes it difficult to live with everyday sounds.
There is also evidence that cochlear implants reduce tinnitus. IIRC it's around 75% of people suffering from tinnitus who get cochlear implants report improvement ranging from reduced severity to complete relief.
I am glad that there are people doing research on this.
For a long time, I have suspected that people of my generation and younger (i.e. people under 40), are going to have a lot of hearing problems. As a musician, I have always been a bit paranoid about my hearing, so I use ear plugs when exposed to loud noises.
But the amount of people I know that are already having hearing issues is shocking. Looking back, I can only assume it is because they always had headphones on, and the were always far too loud. It was worse once we started driving. People would blast music as loud as the speakers would allow.
My favorite quote from the linked article, Table 1 Row 1:
> Gaming was associated with poorer self-reported hearing. Use of hearing protection is uncommon (<5%) among gamers.
The study quoted by the featured study is very reasonable in finding this given its context, but I think it's a little ridiculous the featured study suggested that gamers might use hearing protection as opposed to turning the sound down.
In any case, this is interesting to see. I never turn my volume up past about 20% because it becomes physically painful at that point, but I thought maybe some people might have insensitive hardware that needs higher power to create reasonable audio? Are folks just leaving their volume on the default 50% or 100% or whatever it is?
> but I thought maybe some people might have insensitive hardware that needs higher power to create reasonable audio? Are folks just leaving their volume on the default 50% or 100% or whatever it is?
A few reasons I can think of:
* Less sensitive headphones (as you mentioned). A lot of fancier headphones have much higher impedance and need more power to drive.
* People playing competitive games want to be able to hear quiet and farther away sounds like footsteps approaching. Then sounds like gunshots are dangerously loud.
* Earbuds that seal poorly (think the original AirPods as opposed to the Pro version) make you turn up the volume in order to hear any bass (or shove them deeper into your ear canal if you want to listen at a more reasonable volume, which is also uncomfortable).
I have a mild case of tinnitus - most of the time I'm blissfully unaware of it unless it's very quiet.
20 years ago I used to play video games (PC) for long periods with headphones. I never liked loud music so I don't think I set the volume too high, but maybe with headphones the damage can accumulate over time even within the safe limits.
As long as it has a lot of short and loud sounds, and is played via the headphones, then yes. I don't think that's the common scenario for watching BBC though. From the paper itself:
> Headphones are frequently used, and individuals may increase the volume to higher levels than their preferred listening levels to overcome the background noise that is common in these settings. While gaming centres and PC rooms exist worldwide, the vast majority are in China and other Asian countries. Third, electronic sports, termed esports, involve competitive, organised gaming and are rapidly growing in popularity. Some esports players are professional gamers, and therefore may practice for many hours a day, often using headphones, and compete regularly in online or in-person competitions or tournaments.
Some games provide important sound cues, if you turn your volume up you get an advantage over players that don't turn their volume up. This is very different from listening to music or podcasts.
Readit News
Because of the assumptions based around what constitutes "cheating", players are not only strongly disincentivized from compressing and equalizing the game's audio: they are often outright banned for doing so. If you play PUBG competitively, then you are either damaging your hearing, or you are "cheating".
This is one of many reasons that anti-cheat systems do more harm than good. Once upon a time, anti-cheat simply meant choosing which players you are willing to play with. That system had no trouble accommodating accessibility. Today, that's practically impossible, because servers are hosted and moderated exclusively by the game studios themselves.
PUBG is the only game where gunfights seem overly loud in contrast to everything else.
Playing other Battle Royale games the volume difference isn't anywhere near as big.
uh what?
or maybe game devs could realize that this is an issue and provide some better configurability for such stuff?
Their biggest motivator is planned obselescence. By monopolizing the server software, they can eliminate (or shrink) the player base from an older game during the release of its sequel.
For example, Battlefield 4 has a thriving online community (with player-hosted servers), but its sequel Battlefield 1 definitely struggled to keep servers full during the release of Battlefield 5.
I didn't even get mine from loud noises, I was only 11 at the time, I'm just here to encourage everyone to not take silence for granted.
On one hand, it is not that bad, one is not disabled by having it.
On the other hand, it is always there, there’s nothing you can do to make that easier, not even for a moment.
It’s not about ability, but what it does to you mentally.
Only current options are: masking, which can make it worse if noise is played too loud to mask the tinnitus for too long.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, which is about adjusting your feelings toward tinnitus.
Hearing aids, which can have masking sounds built in, seem to help by amplifying other sounds going into the ears.
Some people develop hyperacusis also from masking with sounds too loud when masking sounds should be as low as possible to provide relief then be reduced further. Hyperacusis makes it difficult to live with everyday sounds.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2740131/#bib-00...
For a long time, I have suspected that people of my generation and younger (i.e. people under 40), are going to have a lot of hearing problems. As a musician, I have always been a bit paranoid about my hearing, so I use ear plugs when exposed to loud noises.
But the amount of people I know that are already having hearing issues is shocking. Looking back, I can only assume it is because they always had headphones on, and the were always far too loud. It was worse once we started driving. People would blast music as loud as the speakers would allow.
> Gaming was associated with poorer self-reported hearing. Use of hearing protection is uncommon (<5%) among gamers.
The study quoted by the featured study is very reasonable in finding this given its context, but I think it's a little ridiculous the featured study suggested that gamers might use hearing protection as opposed to turning the sound down.
In any case, this is interesting to see. I never turn my volume up past about 20% because it becomes physically painful at that point, but I thought maybe some people might have insensitive hardware that needs higher power to create reasonable audio? Are folks just leaving their volume on the default 50% or 100% or whatever it is?
A few reasons I can think of:
* Less sensitive headphones (as you mentioned). A lot of fancier headphones have much higher impedance and need more power to drive.
* People playing competitive games want to be able to hear quiet and farther away sounds like footsteps approaching. Then sounds like gunshots are dangerously loud.
* Earbuds that seal poorly (think the original AirPods as opposed to the Pro version) make you turn up the volume in order to hear any bass (or shove them deeper into your ear canal if you want to listen at a more reasonable volume, which is also uncomfortable).
> Headphones are frequently used, and individuals may increase the volume to higher levels than their preferred listening levels to overcome the background noise that is common in these settings. While gaming centres and PC rooms exist worldwide, the vast majority are in China and other Asian countries. Third, electronic sports, termed esports, involve competitive, organised gaming and are rapidly growing in popularity. Some esports players are professional gamers, and therefore may practice for many hours a day, often using headphones, and compete regularly in online or in-person competitions or tournaments.
https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000253
If you turn the volume up too loud, you'll get hearing loss long term. But not because you're a "gamer".
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