Computer Game Improves Children's Hearing

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.

Comments

Oh joy

[mao che minh]

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. 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".

The Only Way To Learn

[rnicey]

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.

Games that I learned from and were fun

[suso]

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.

Re:And for the deaf? Misleading headline

[Cyclopedian]

The severity of my deafness probably qualifies for cochlear implant sugery, but that's not the big issue there.

The big issue with cochlear implant surgery is when to get it.

At my age right now, it won't bring any additional benefits over hearing aids. I've worn hearing aids for almost my whole life that it's become natural for me to wear them. I'm used to hearing the sounds of the world through those digital ears and I'm doing just fine.

Cochlear implants have their biggest impacts at an early age, preferably before age 5. The key is being able to allow the child to hear some sounds before the language center of the brain stops its rapid development. The earlier the surgery, the better chance that the child will be able to have normal language development.

With that said, I wouldn't want one. I see no need to and I'm just fine with my hearing aids. It's likely that if I have deaf children, they too will not have cochlear implants.

I recommend you watch Sound and Fury, a PBS documentary about cochlear implants. It's a very well made documentary, presenting both sides of the debate with about as fair as one can get. It's a very moving piece.

-Cyc