Tag Archives: Soundblaster

Yup, it is about sound and for a second the BBC woke me up (they tend to do that). There we see (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68004968) ‘Gamers at risk of irreversible hearing loss and tinnitus’. I never was in a position to play music too loud, or play games too loud. I at times had my earphones and the music was up by a little. But some devices (like my MD player) had the ability to limit earphone volume to protect my hearing. Huh, what? Yes, hearing. So to read this article where we are given “The new review suggests that gamers play for long periods of time with the volume turned up, beyond safe limits. It says this could contribute to irreversible hearing loss or tinnitus, a constant ringing in the ears.” We are also given that this test was done in over 14 studies which in total involved more than 50,000 people. Now I have an issue with this. It implies that these studies had no more than 5,000 people each. This is not enough, but should not be dismissed out of hand because of it. Then there was “Some of the studies they looked at went back to the 1990s, when the gaming world was very different to now.” So the ‘damage’ is larger. It is over a much longer time making me question if a real medical investigation was done. In the 90’s games weren’t taken seriously, hardware was to some degree a joke (compared to today). Sound started to come through with the Soundblaster in 1990. It became serious with the AWE32 in 1994. But the overall setting was still not the best environmental setting. The only game who took sound serious in gaming was 

There you could be ‘heard’ and you could hear opponents. It was the first attempt to more serious stealth and they did it pretty good. Now we have a new setting. The new consoles could take the entire setting to new heights, where stealth is about hearing and not being heard. Even the Horizons series aren’t on that page yet. It is all about not being seen. Still, there is no telling where they take it in Horizons 3, the PS5 is ready for this. There are some indications (from unverified sources) that Unreal 5.5 will be ready too (not sure how Unreal Engine 5 picks it up). Gamers are visual (for the most). So stealth gaming could make a big swing in the next 5 years. Those who screwed up their hearing can rely on the next Call of Duty and Fortnite3 (or 4). It will be all about the graphics and sounds will be not an issue, if it is you (the deaf person) will become the ultimate loser in that game. 

This sounds sad and it is. We have all that hardware and certain protection stages have been either ignored or could be circumvented.

My first question becomes ‘Could more be done?’ It is not clear, because the article alerts us and does not show where the borders are. It is easy to blame the parents and they were probably the one who got him the earphones in the first place. We have seen a whole range of optical improvements, starting with the Unreal Engine all the way back to 1998, I reckon that sound is soon the next wave of improvements. I reckon that this is also the moment that there will be a huge improvement in stealth games. 

Below was my achievement some time ago. I am pretty proud of it, but I do realise that these Russians never heard me, I wonder how well I ended up if that was the case. 

I do love my stealth games, and I hope to see a whole range of improvements over the time to come. In addition, consider what happens when sound becomes a real player in the next Assassins Creed games. You still think you can sneak into places Basim? Or do you need to upgrade your stealth first? A stage that is merely waiting to happen, if you could hear that it. As such finding new protection systems for the hearing of the gamers seem to have a bigger need at present.

Just a thought to consider whilst I approach Friday in 3.1 hours.