Are you being haunted by your video game?

Gamers can still hear in-game sounds such as explosions, screams or music, long after they have finished playing, research suggests.

The phantom noises are more likely to be heard among “excessive gamers” who indulge in long gaming sessions or play very frequently, the researchers said.

The Nottingham Trent University’s International Gaming Research Unit visited online gaming forums and collected data from 1,244 players who had experienced “game transfer phenomena” – where perceptions, thoughts and behaviours are influenced by playing video games.

Of these, 12 per cen claimed they had heard phantom sounds as a result of game play, according to the article in the International Journal of Cyber Behaviour, Psychology and Learning.

Players reported hearing sound effects such as explosions, groans, and screams while they were trying to drift off to sleep or during everyday activities like walking and driving.