PP703 - Change in Peripheral Hearing Sensitivity Following 2-Hour Video Game Exposure

Abstract: Competitive video gaming has grown immensely in popularity, particularly in first-person shooter games. In 31 young adults aged 18-25 years (17 male, 14 female), we measured audiometry and DPOAEs pre-and post-exposure to 2-hours of typical first-person shooter video gaming. The participants were allowed to select their own listening level. In order to avoid influencing their listening level choice, deception was employed; participants believed we were testing their auditory reaction times pre/post video gaming. In this study, we found that there was no risk of experiencing hearing sensitivity shifts from two hours of typical video game play.

Summary: Competitive video gaming, also known as eSports, has rapidly grown in popularity, with first-person firearm shooter games rising as the most popular. Noise-induced hearing loss occurs from repeated exposure to loud sounds that cause damage to the cochlea. Temporary threshold shift is a short-term decrease in hearing sensitivity after loud sound exposure.
This study was developed to test the hypothesis that post-exposure audiometric thresholds and DPOAE amplitude would be worse than pre-exposure audiometric thresholds and DPOAE amplitude. This study included individuals between the ages of 18-25 years old, who consider themselves to be “regular” video gamers. “Regular” video gamers met the criterion of playing video games for 10+ hours a week. Participants were required to have self-determined intermediate or advanced skills playing either Overwatch 2 or Rainbow Six Siege video games to be included in the study, as these were the exposure games.
This study deployed two deceptions. First, we did not disclose the inclusion criterion for the time (10 hr/wk) participants needed to play video games to be considered a Regular Video Gamer (RVG). Second, the participants were told that the purpose of the study was to measure their auditory reaction time in response to different stimuli pre/post gaming exposure, such that the researchers did not influence the participant’s choice of exposure listening volume.
Pre-exposure testing included informed consent, a Qualtrics demographic survey, otoscopy, tympanometry, DPOAEs, and audiometry (500-16,000 Hz) bilaterally in 5 dB steps via circumaural headphones. Participants then played Overwatch 2 or Rainbow Six Siege for two hours. During that time, the participants were allowed to set/change the headphone volume to any level they preferred. Post-exposure testing included DPOAEs and audiometric thresholds.
Due to audiometric/DPOAE ear differences observed at baseline, the post-exposure results were separated by ear. Although sex differences were not observed at baseline, post-exposure analyses were separated to observe any effect of sex mitigating threshold shift. The results showed no systematically reliable deficits post-exposure. Spuriously, an improvement in 4 kHz audiometry was observed in the right ear only, in addition to a decrease in 14 kHz sensitivity in the left ear only. Similarly, there were a few spurious changes in DPAOE amplitudes, with 9 kHz decreased in the right ear only, and 6, 7, and 8 decreased in the left ear only (all decreases approximately 1 dB SPL). On average, there was no risk of experiencing temporary threshold shift from playing 2-hours of the most popular competitive first-person shooter video games.
Two limitations included only testing the most popular video games for a single timeframe (2 hours), and we allowed the participants to select their own volume. In summary, it is worth reflection that, on average, this random sample of 31 young-adult, regular video gamers probably preferred and selected safe sound levels for this 2-hour video game noise exposure period, even after we used deception to control for researcher/study influence over the participant’s selected listening level.