The Influence of Noise on Hearing in Musicians

Abstract

Noise-induced hearing loss is a sensorineural hearing impairment with symptoms that slightly differ from other types of sensorineural hearing loss. This type of hearing deficit is characterized by threshold shifts that first occur in the frequency range of 3 to 6 kHz, and most commonly around 4 kHz. Career in music often entails quite a few occupational diseases, and one of them is noise-induced hearing loss acquired when performing or practicing music. Numerous investigations on hearing impairment in musicians have been conducted. The results of studies on orchestral musicians show that they are indeed exposed to high noise levels. Brass, woodwind and percussion players are the most exposed, and are therefore prone to experience the greatest threshold shifts in the frequency range of 3 to 6 kHz. Rock musicians suffer from hearing loss even more often due to their exposition to even greater noise levels, and, among them, drummers are at the highest risk. Music academy students are mostly too young to develop any type of hearing loss. DJs suffer from the hardest noise induced hearing impairment among the musicians. Furthermore, they often show threshold shifts in the frequency range of 125 Hz to 500 Hz because they are more exposed to lower frequencies with high sound pressure level. Investigations present great benefit from various personal noise protection tools, and musicians ought to be encouraged to implement some of them.

Keywords

• hearing loss
• noise-induced – epidemiology
• physiopathology
• prevention ad control; music; occupational diseases – etiology
• prevention and control; noise