Concern over hearing problems among children due to video gaming

At the heart of the populous Race Track estate in Nakuru, children are enjoying intense recreational activities— both indoor and outdoor games.

But it is the video game room that is fully packed as children line up to wear headphones and get entertained.

“It’s fun. I have been coming here every weekend,” says 12-year-old Allan*.

As soon as he leaves the room, his friend calls his name, but Allan does not respond. “I’m sorry I did not hear you. It was as if something was ringing in my ears. It sounded like hissing and that is why I could not hear you properly,” responds Allan.

Allan could be at a higher risk of developing irreversible hearing loss and/or tinnitus—persistent ringing/buzzing in the ears, according to Dr Michael Stima, an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist based in Nakuru.

“Listening to sound above 60 per cent of the maximum volume of any electronic devise predisposes your ears to injuries that could be permanent,” says Dr Stima.

He notes that he has treated several school-age children who are hearing-impaired in some way. “They could be developing hearing problems due to overuse of loud devices. After doing audiometry tests, I have discovered that most of them suffer from induced hearing loss.”

However, he notes that Kenya has not conducted detailed studies on noise-induced hearing loss considering video gaming is still a new phenomenon in the country. “There is no data in the country but this an area of public health concern. As an ENT specialist, I have treated 10 cases so far in the past year. I have given some of the children hearing aids,” says Dr Stima.

Gaming is one of the most popular leisure-time activity globally with more than three billion gamers worldwide as of 2022. Gamers often play for extended periods at high volume levels. 

But according to the latest report by the World Health Organization (WHO), video gamers worldwide may be risking irreversible hearing loss and/or tinnitus.

WHO says over one billion people are at risk of hearing damage due to unsafe recreational listening practices like video games, which are increasingly becoming popular with children and teenagers.

While headphones, earbuds and music venues have been recognised 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.

According to the Ministry of Health, in Kenya, 14 in every 1,000 children have moderate or severe hearing loss, which is around 10 times higher than in the United States.

The Kenya National Population Census 2019 states that there are 153,381 deaf people in Kenya aged above five years. The report further shows that most of the Deaf people (129,518) are in rural areas compared to urban areas (23,843).

Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital ENT department notes that there are various hearing loss prevention and management methods based on the stages of life.

The critical stages are immunisation, good maternal and childcare practices; genetic counselling; identification and management of common ear conditions; occupational hearing conservation programmes for noise and chemical exposure; safe listening strategies for the reduction of exposure to loud sounds in recreational settings; and rational use of medicines to prevent ototoxic hearing loss.

“Early identification of hearing loss and ear diseases is key to effective management. We do these in clinical and community settings as recently demonstrated with the ENT screening clinic at KUTRRH,” says the referral hospital in a report.

Some of the technologies being embraced by hospitals for addressing hearing loss are hearing aids, cochlear implants and middle ear implants.

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