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Education Entertainment Games

Computer Game Improves Children's Hearing 172

Posted by CowboyNeal from the can-you-hear-me-now dept.
wiredbeat2000 writes "The BBC is running a story that claims children who play video games increase their hearing skills. There have been several studies over the last few months extolling the virtues of games and education. For example, Wired News ran a roundup of college programs, and USA Today published a recent story on Daphne Bavelier's findings that playing games could help children develop hand-eye coordination, in addition to Professor James Gee's Slashdot-covered video transcript and article on 'games that teach'." Things have come a long way since the time when schoolkids were dumped in front of a computer and left to play Oregon Trail.
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Computer Game Improves Children's Hearing More

Computer Game Improves Children's Hearing

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  • Sadly... (Score:3, Funny)

    by egg troll ( 515396 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:08PM (#6820897) Homepage Journal
    ...Increased computer playing leads to fewer dates. Why don't they spend their money on a cure for this?
    • They do. Haven't you heard the other side of the story?

      The said: "playing games could help children develop hand-eye coordination", but left out the fact that thousands of pr0n sites exist to help date-less adults develop their hand-eye coordination.

    • Re:Sadly... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I like how this has weight because it's a 'study'... like duh, already... video games present a complex system, and those playing them have to learn how to interact with the game to achieve the goals. There are all kinds of positive gains to playing video games, and even more support for their validity in light of the closest competitor, television. I'd much rather have my kids interacting than becoming stewed meat on a bed of couch.

      That being said, it should be obvious to most that video games can be ve

    • Re:Sadly... (Score:3, Funny)

      by OoSpaceoO ( 258972 )
      Fewer dates? Not if you're a banker from boston who can succesfully navigate the oregon trail!!

  • Oh joy (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mao che minh ( 611166 ) * on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:10PM (#6820905) Journal
    It's rather obvious that routine engagement with video games have both beneficial and harmful effects on children. The question that I have never seen made by any media outlet is how do these benefits and harms weigh against each other, and whether or not video game playing can be maintained while engaging in other activities such as sports and study.

    Nevertheless, it is refreshing to see video games recieving positive media. And despite this, games such as Grand Theft Auto will forever serve as targets for the anti-game pundits.

    Now excuse me while I look up secrets to the new Mario Golf game. [nintendo.com] I love video games that neither benefit nor harm you in any measurable way, only aim to entertain. This is why I hope Nintendo is still around when I have kids. I would much rather have my daughter playing "Animal Crossing 4: Happy Fun Land" than busting caps into pilots heads in "Grand Theft Aero 2: Jumbojet Bane".

  • yeah i find i can circle strafe so much faster after learning 10 WASD first person shooters =P

  • Oregon Trail (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joe the Lesser ( 533425 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:11PM (#6820910) Homepage Journal
    You have killed 942 pounds of meat.

    You can carry 100 pounds back to your wagon.
    • Was I the only one that would leave dumb ass messages on my tomb stone so that other students in the computer lab would see them later? Man that was good fun.

      • Re:Was I the only one.... (Score:5, Funny)

        by Jerf ( 17166 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:44PM (#6821085) Journal
        Was I the only one that would leave dumb ass messages on my tomb stone so that other students in the computer lab would see them later?

        Yes. Of the millions of children who have played Oregon Trail in school, including probably several hundred today still playing on ancient, creaky old Apple II's, you are the only one to leave so-called "Humourous" messages.

        Damn, I wish I'd thought of that. My hat is off to you, Mao Che Minh. You truly are one of the cleverest children around.
      • yes... if by tomb stone you mean Apple II.......

        back in elementry school, we used to get on these oxen on the computer on the trail during lunch time...

        now, we just spend our time getting off with these oxens in chat rooms at work during lunch time...

        life is a cycle afterall...

      • I was banned from the computers for six months in the sixth grade for writing some really obscene stuff on the tombstones. It's not that they caught me at the time. Rather, they got a bit upset when the grade three class came in and their eyes popped out of their heads.
    • How wasteful!

    • oh the memories....

      all we had to do was to kill 1 buffalo, and that was sufficient food... and we didnt need to waste ammo... gotta miss those hunting scenes :D

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:11PM (#6820913)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Hey - don't dis Oregon Trail! That was an awesome game!
  • Argh, all the news lately have been one day late... May be we should call it 'Slashdot, olds for Nerds, Stuff that mutters'

  • But not reading... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Moridineas ( 213502 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:13PM (#6820931) Journal
    Sadly, while playing a SPECIFIC video game might increase hearing ability (I reference the BBC article the poster linked to) it seems abundantly clear that playing video games does not increase reading skills!

    quote:

    A simple computer game can dramatically improve children's listening skills by teaching them to distinguish between sounds, new research suggests.

    The game is said to boost children's hearing by the equivalent of two years in just a few weeks.

    Phonomena was devised by Professor David Moore at Oxford University as an aid for children with language problems.

    • Sadly, while playing a SPECIFIC video game might increase hearing ability...

      Actually, I've found that MOST video games improve my son's hearing ability... or rather the selectivity of it. You can ask him direct questions really loudly and he will ignore you. Mutter a side comment to someone else about turning off the video game, and he's all ears.

    • Personally, running around in the scrub near where I grew up helped develop my hearing discrimination (this article seems to be related to auditory discrimination and not basic audio levels).

      If you couldn't hear the dog disappearing into the bush ahead of you, the slithering of a snake on the left, and keep a bearing on the bellowing livestock you were fscked!

      I feel this is more of a function of the cotton-wool swaddled worlds our children grow up in. We are overprotective by default, treated as social

    • no more saying "It was the dog that farted" I guess....

  • Computer Game Improves Children's Hearing (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Which is countered in the teenage years by listening to loud heavy metal music.
  • ... video games and computer games have done nothing to improve my hearing. In fact, they helped me to tune out my mother's nagging effectively as a child. Did it help to make selective hearing better?

    Whatever.
  • I know my hearing's improved from playing Natural Selection for quite some time. Gotta listen for those sneaky skulks.

  • Oh no! (Score:5, Funny)

    by jeffkjo1 ( 663413 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:14PM (#6820945) Homepage
    children who play video games increase their hearing skills.

    Just what we need, an entire generation of audio-philes who extol the value of gold plated, 3 inch thick monster cables and $4000 Blaupunkt stereo recievers.
  • After everything we've put up with for the past few years, we're starting to hear (no pun intended...ok, yeah, it was intended) good things about video games, from helping people in combat situations to improving hearing.

    Now if they can only start reporting that tar heroin actually prolongs life...
    • After everything we've put up with for the past few years, we're starting to hear (no pun intended...ok, yeah, it was intended) good things about video games, from helping people in combat situations to improving hearing.

      Now if they can only start reporting that tar heroin actually prolongs life...

      I have been finding the signal-to-noise ratio a bit low lately from the medical community. We have a baby girl on the way, and depending on who you ask, the medical community has a completely different atti

  • Don't knock down Oregon Trail (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Without it, I wouldn't have known, all you need to live in life is...

    4 Oxen
    3 Wagon Wheels
    3 Wagon Axels
    4 Changes of Clothes
    0 Food
    999 Boxes of Ammo
  • Oregon trail...I remember that...I never could finish it...i always had an axle break or something retarded like that...hmmph...
    • Find an Apple II Emulator and the ROM for it.. Something about finishing the game in less than 15 minutes takes the fun out of it. =)
    • I never could beat it either. Then I decided to just try to kill everyone off. Much more fun. Until I discovered Wolfenstein, anyway.
    • When I was coming up, I thought Oregon Trail was really hard. Then I played it a couple months ago, and beat it with no problem.

      The difference? Realizing that you didn't have to stop to hunt every day. Especially if you couldn't even carry any more food.

      Bang! Bang!

  • 5.1 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ergonal ( 609484 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:16PM (#6820956)
    This makes even more sense with surround sound coming into play in a lot of recent games. Kids concentrating on where the sound is coming from; do this for hours a day, every week, and soon enough their directional sound navigation (if you will) is increased.

    • Re:5.1 (Score:2)

      by ari_j ( 90255 )
      It's really a problem of the chicken and the egg, though: Who set up the 5.1 system?

      Not the stupid parents, for sure. If they did, you can bet that at least one speaker is in the wrong place and at least one other speaker is not properly connected.

      This doesn't just occur with children of stupid parents, but also any children I am around, because I'm a sadistic bastard and would cross-wire all the speakers, so that your kids get seriously messed up when it comes to spatial positioning.
    • As opposed to playing cowboys and indians in the bush with other kids? I don't buy it.
      Oh, wait, kids no longer play that. Now they play cowboys and native americans, and the natives simply runs the casinos...
  • as one of your senses start to fail (eyes) the others will increase in strength.
  • In any competition in which eye-hand coordination would be to the advantage of the competitor (street fighter, for instance), in order to become master of the competition, it would be necesary for one to either learn better eye-hand coordination or to quit playing; either way, people who play video games will develop better motor skills related to the competition.

    It could be argued that the same is true of games that have no time constraint, i.e. final fantasy in wait mode, turn based "civ" style games, et
    • If that's the case, if the children that are not good at the games quit playing, then maybe it is possible that video games don't enhance eye-hand coordination. It could be that those with good eye-hand coordination are simply drawn to video games, and a sample would seem to reveal that children that play video games have better eye-hand coordination, the same could be true for the hearing issue.
      • So, you're suggesting that the video games do not increase performance, they just weed out the people who aren't bred for it anyway, or something like that. You're saying that people with an engineering degree are better at math, but it doesn't follow that an engineering degree makes you good it math, more logically, it follows that people who aren't good at math stay away from engineering.

        An excellent argument.
  • In 3d games like counter-strike, someone can shoot you from behind, and its vital to be able to hear footsteps before they kill you. So, you need a good soundcard, good speakers and good ears. Your listening will improve with this kind of practise

  • Personal story (Score:3, Interesting)

    by YahoKa ( 577942 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:20PM (#6820981)
    I know personally that what games did for me is not shown in any of this research. It helped me learn about computers. It began playing half-life with software rendering, and I began to research how i could make my game playing better. I then spent hundreds of hours learning about computers, and (thank$ to my very generou$ parent$) was able to build my own computer.

    The point is, my learning (or desire for learning) never really stopped. I soon became a daily slashdot reader, and I wait for where my hunger for knowledge will take me next. I know this is perhaps not usal for many kids, but that's my story.

  • Unfortunately (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:27PM (#6821012)
    This does not change the fact that kids only listen to what they want to hear

  • The Only Way To Learn (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rnicey ( 315158 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:28PM (#6821016) Homepage
    Hardly surprising. All children learn through play. When you make trial and error fun it's called play.
    All animals are the same. Take a look at a kitten playing with a ball. They didn't evolve to please humans for being cute. That's a learned hunting skill.

    That's one of the reasons why we have a pleasure sense. It propels us to learn and helps us survive.
  • Children that read /. learn the difference between literate and illiterate posts... up to two years of skill can be earned in just a few weeks. An unfortunate side effect comes from seeing insane AC comments and mind numbing redundancy. The impact is that children become permanently cynical Libertarian geeks.
    • Children that read /. learn the difference between literate and illiterate posts... up to two years of skill can be earned in just a few weeks. An unfortunate side effect comes from seeing insane AC comments and mind numbing redundancy. The impact is that children become permanently cynical Libertarian geeks.

      And most of those children are in their late 20s and early 30s.

  • After six hours playing Duke Nukem Forever earlier today, I can conclude that - while very relaxing - the sound of silence did nothing to improve my hearing...
    • After six hours playing Duke Nukem Forever earlier today, I can conclude that - while very relaxing - the sound of silence did nothing to improve my hearing...

      I didn't realize Simon and Garfunkle went with FPS games. Normally I'm blaring heavy metal or punk when I empty a chain gun on someone.

      Hell, lets see if playing Quake to Jim Croche or Cat Stevens improves my concentration.

  • I am so tired of these ridiculous reports about correlation studies. "Red Wine may cure cancer." "High fat diets may cause obesity" Bullocks! I hypothesize that the causal relationship is actually the converse of what has been reported. This makes more sense: Children with innate hearing abilities tend to play more video games! I personally have horrible ears, and I am pitiful at first person shooters... So of course, I don't play a lot of video games. A famous drunk once said: "Gin and tonic make
  • now i can tell my wife that our 4 year old NEEDS his playstation 2 games to max out his SAT scores.

    • Yes, because when the invigolator is at the front of the class yelling out the answers, your son will be able to hear them better.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Sure you've got edutainment games that drill knowledge into you, or quiz you 'til you've got it, but what about games designed to develop ability and skill? Just as sports train your body to be stronger and faster, why not a computer game designed to develop your sense of hearing, or visual pattern recognition, or stuff like that? Sure there are biofeedback games to help you control heartrate or brainwave patterns or whatever, but why not basic abilities like that?
  • I've noticed my peripheral vision has greater accuity than forward. I wonder if years staring at bright CRT's have played much of a role in that. Hopefully my vision will continue satisfactorily, but I wear sunglasses more often to protect whats left.
    • If that's true then there's something very very wrong with you and you should see an opthamalogist. Acuity - if that's the term you meant to use - is MUCH lower in the periphery than looking "forward" and that is by design.
  • Well the boost from video games should help the huge loss taken from concerts.

  • Yup, all that extra hearing REALLY helps... (Score:3, Funny)

    by TyrranzzX ( 617713 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:36PM (#6821062) Journal
    I remember when I used to be in Smile we would occasionally play different games other than tribes. One night, we were playing the raven shield demo and toying around with the different weapons.

    Now, truth be told, all of us had our sound maxed out; you have to have it, the slightest sound can be the determining factor of weither you kill or get killed, no music allowed. Unfortunatly, one of the guys had a 5.1 surround sound system in his room cranked to the max (who I will refer to as "billy".). There was also another guy I was playing with whom I will call "Kiddy".

    So, there I was, the match on the prison level just started, and I decided to throw a frag grenaide, max power, up at 45 degree angle to see how far it'd go. So I throw it, watch as the projectile moves off into the distance, then I hear this little pop.

    About a half a second later over Teamspeak2 I hear another boom, considerably louder, fallowed by a "Ahh! HOOOLY SHIT!!!".

    Of course, "kiddy" asked "what was it" and "billy" said "fuck, a grenaide blew up right next to my fucking head, arrgh". Subsequently, "Billy" was going up a flight of stairs, and the nade hit the upper platform right next to his head.

    After that I heard something that made both of us laugh our asses off; "Brb guys, got to change my pants".

    It's understandable; you've had a bit too much beer, don't want to goto the bathroom becuase of the addiction of the game, and at the beginning of the map you don't expect a nade to explode right next to your head, a minute 4 or 5 seconds after it started.

    Of course, up until the point I left smile, "billy" never heard the end of it, hehee. >:)

  • Doh... (Score:3, Funny)

    by wmspringer ( 569211 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:38PM (#6821067) Homepage Journal
    So that's why I'm deaf...

    my parents didn't buy me enough video games! :-)

  • New Hearing Aid (Score:1, Redundant)

    by antsquish ( 320643 )
    1. Write computer game
    2. Market it as a hearing enhancement
    2. ???
    3. Profit!!

  • Pinball (Score:2, Interesting)

    by craw ( 6958 )
    In my youth it was pinball machines. It taught you eye, hand, and *hip* coordination. Only blind, deaf and dumb pinball wizards remain totally motionless. It was always eyes first, hands respond on the flipper button, and then the hips would move in the requisite motion. I say hips, but what I really mean is your butt.

    It was a lot of fun taking turns playing pinball with members of the other sex. Especially, if you stood behind them watching their playing motion.

    Now let me tell you about foosball...
  • that intellivision speech synthesizer thingy certainly helped a few kids with their listening comprehension skills
  • The kids ability to deselect their parents is greatly increased.

    [galaga ringtone]

    M@
  • If computer gaming does nothing but make you better then why can't I get laid? I'm getting gypped here!

  • Playing Quake for ten hours at a time with headphones that lacked a hardware volume control sure didn't improve my hearing ;) This was on Windows 95, in the days before Alt-Tab functioned properly in most games. My hearing has never recovered.

  • Not my kids (Score:5, Funny)

    by spress ( 584556 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:56PM (#6821142)
    They seem unable to hear the phrase "8 straight hours of Bomberman is enough, its time for bed", no matter how loud I yell it.

  • here is the new scientist link (Score:5, Informative)

    by Wycliffe ( 116160 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:58PM (#6821152) Homepage

    here is the new scientist link:

    Computer game boosts children's' language skills [newscientist.com]

    The game, based on distinguishing between sounds, is claimed to deliver the equivalent of two years improvement in just a few weeks
  • Any results on what computer games do to people's vision ? I know my vision started deteriorating once I started programming full time and I believe it has gotten worse in the last few months when I have been doing lots of heavy reading at night.

    Maybe these kids' hearing is improving to compensate for worsened vision....
  • I, for one, welcome our new all-hearing [slashdot.org], , all-seeing [slashdot.org] and definitely not anti-social [slashdot.org] video game playing overlords.
  • Children sucked until computer games came along.

    Now, if only I could play Sim-Hoop-and-a-Stick, in a MMPORPGLORPS setting!

    Really, how did society come this far without computer games? And what about the children!
  • GO TO BEDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • WHAT?

  • Hearing vs. Listening (Score:3, Insightful)

    by LuYu ( 519260 ) on Friday August 29, 2003 @12:36AM (#6821297) Homepage Journal

    That headline should probably read:

    Computer Game Improves Children's
    Listening
    Since children are probably born with all of the physical hearing capabilities they will ever have, the video games would increase their ability to interpret the signals sent by their hardware (ears). In other words, they are capable of recognizing more sounds.

  • Games that I learned from and were fun (Score:4, Interesting)

    by suso ( 153703 ) on Friday August 29, 2003 @12:39AM (#6821303) Journal
    Here are some games I remember playing on the C64 that I learned something valueable from.
    • Seven Cities of Gold (intro to Native American Civilization)
    • Heart of Africa (a lot of geographical info about Africa)
    • Summer Games (Good for learning different country national anthems)
    • Alice in Wonderland (Encouraged me to read the book)
    • Below the Root (A great game that doesn't need any violence to make the adventure really fun and read the book)
    • Sim City (city planning, government, etc.)
    • Strip Poker (Female Anatom.. er, uh I meant how to play poker)
    • Great music got a lot of people interested and excited about music.

  • Speaking of learning things from computer games (Score:3, Funny)

    by suso ( 153703 ) on Friday August 29, 2003 @12:44AM (#6821322) Journal
    Here [angelfire.com] is a funny list of things that you might learn from video games if you are an alien
  • well its good that one game will improve hearing since perhaps the loss of eyesight will not be so bad. Maybe this game idea can be put into a DareDevil franchise release.

    No... nevermind, I take that all back.

  • This only means... (Score:3, Funny)

    by dasmegabyte ( 267018 ) <das@OHNOWHATSTHISdasmegabyte.org> on Friday August 29, 2003 @12:54AM (#6821381) Homepage Journal
    That they are not playing them loud enough. I played Silent Hill 3 a week ago and I still can't hear any sound over 10,000 Hz.

    Don't worry about me, though. I broke out my Mark Lanegan CDs. It's gonna be okay.
  • Children who often play videogames are very quick to learn musical instruments.

    Coincidence? I think not.

  • Paid to state the obvious... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stickyc ( 38756 ) on Friday August 29, 2003 @01:17AM (#6821480) Homepage
    This just in: Participating in activities that involve repeatedly exercising action X tends to improve children's X abilities! I'm pretty sure I was tought this in high-school physiology and that it was one of the fundamental rules of development. It continues to amaze me that people are actually getting grants, paychecks, and royalties to document the obvious. What justification do the signers of these checks have to endorse such studies? Are there really people that out of touch with learning and physiology? Is there a great legal need for documented proof of such theorems? Is this some kind of academic circle of life where those signing the checks were once those recieving the checks and now feel compelled to continue the tradition?
  • I definitely don't remember the Oregon Trail game - it must be a U.S. thing. However, I faintly remember playing a game about being a voyageur, rowing up river, trading furs and stuff. But I kept capsizing the darned canoe.

    Any other Canadians remember what that was called? Maybe "Voyageur"?

    • Re:Oregon Trail? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Art_Vandelai ( 596101 )
      I remember a game for the Commodore PET - I think it was called 'Fur Trader' or something like that - you had to navigate rivers and drop off furs in various ports in the Canadian North, which was represented by those line & sqiggle graphics on a green/black screen. I remember learning about canoes and portages, and all of the small Northern outposts from the game like Fort Saskatchewan, Rocky Mtn. House, etc.
      • I remember a game for the Commodore PET - I think it was called 'Fur Trader' or something like that - you had to navigate rivers and drop off furs in various ports in the Canadian North, which was represented by those line & sqiggle graphics on a green/black screen. I remember learning about canoes and portages, and all of the small Northern outposts from the game like Fort Saskatchewan, Rocky Mtn. House, etc.

        Yeah, that was it... I played it on the Commodore 64 - one of the ones that they wheeled arou
  • Good thing kids can't afford Klipsch's. Now where'd my hearing horn go?
  • Yep, and pr0n improves your eyesight...

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