Turn Up the Fun, Not the Volume! WHO’s New Guidelines Protect Gamers’ Hearing

In 2024, the open-access journal BMJ Public Health reported that video gamers worldwide were likely risking irreversible hearing loss and/or tinnitus by playing video games. That report was a systematic review of evidence in studies of more than 50,000 people, which indicated that the sound levels reported for video games are often near or exceeding safe limits (Dillard et al, 2024)

This year’s World Hearing Day occurred on March 3. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) theme highlights the importance of awareness and action to protect your hearing, targeting schoolchildren, adolescents, video game enthusiasts, parents, teachers, and older adults. 

There are over three billion gamers worldwide at risk for noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus from prolonged exposure to loud in-game sounds. The WHO and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) teamed up to introduce new guidelines and global standards for safe listening in video game play and e-sports. These new guidelines include safe listening features for gaming devices and video game software. The WHO previously published safe listening guidelines for personal audio devices (2019) and public venues (2022). 

What remains to be determined is if those in the gaming industry adopt these guidelines and protect their players’ hearing. The WHO reports that “adoption of these guidelines by game developers, console manufacturers, and policymakers is essential” (United Nations, 2025).  

References

Dillard, L. K., Mulas, P., Der, C., Fu, X.,Chadha, S. (2024). Risk of sound-induced hearing loss from exposure to video gaming or esports: a systematic scoping review.

United Nations. (2025). Turn Up the Fun, Not the Volume! WHO’s New Guidelines Protect Gamers’ Hearing.

World Health Organization. (2025). World Hearing Day.

World Health Organization. (2022). WHO releases new standard to tackle rising threat of hearing loss. 

World Health Organization. (2019). Safe listening devices and systems: a WHO-ITU standard.