diff --git a/examples/game_controller.rs b/examples/game_controller.rs
index e66a3f83..a2e81216 100644
--- a/examples/game_controller.rs
+++ b/examples/game_controller.rs
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ fn main() {
                 // Axis motion is an absolute value in the range
                 // [-32768, 32767]. Let's simulate a very rough dead
                 // zone to ignore spurious events.
-                if val.abs() > 10000 {
+                let dead_zone = 10000;
+                if val.abs() > dead_zone || val.abs() < -dead_zone {
                     println!("Axis {:?} moved to {}", axis, val);
                 }
             }
diff --git a/examples/joystick.rs b/examples/joystick.rs
index a7e87020..3a3bef03 100644
--- a/examples/joystick.rs
+++ b/examples/joystick.rs
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ fn main() {
                 // Axis motion is an absolute value in the range
                 // [-32768, 32767]. Let's simulate a very rough dead
                 // zone to ignore spurious events.
-                if val.abs() > 10000 {
+                let dead_zone = 10000;
+                if val.abs() > dead_zone || val.abs() < -dead_zone {
                     println!("Axis {} moved to {}", axis_idx, val);
                 }
             }