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 "Hearing Comparison between Musicians & Non-Musicians".
Christian Talley
Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the hearing of musicians
compared to non-musicians. Eighteen participants were given
pure-tone audiometric tests to determine any hearing loss
and questionnaires were completed in order to determine the
health history of the participant as well as past noise exposure.
It was found that approximately half of the musicians had
hearing loss over the acceptable level of 25 dB. Additionally
it appeared that the type of music one played, directly related
to how much hearing loss one had. For example, rock musicians
seemed to show more hearing damage than jazz musicians. Also,
tinnitus (ear ringing) was a frequently mentioned hearing
disorder among all participants. On the basis of the results,
it is concluded that a more extensive study needs to be done
in order to determine the significance of these preliminary
findings.
Purpose
Hearing loss is a non-visible disorder that can adversely
affect not only the person who can t hear but their family
& friends as well. We don t view hearing loss in the same
way that we see a visible handicap. But hearing loss due to
noise damage can happen to anyone at any age. The purpose
of this research is to attempt to determine if there is a
noticeable difference between the hearing quality of musicians
and non-musicians. Musicians are often exposed to high decibel
levels of sound due to their occupation, but have rarely been
studied as at risk of noise induced hearing loss until recent
years. After observing people who listen to loud music and
who played loud music, I wondered if musicians would have
a greater risk of hearing loss due to their occupation of
constant noise exposure than the risk of hearing loss would
be to the average non-musician. These questions lead to the
idea of conducting a study of musicians hearing versus non-musicians
hearing.
Hypothesis
The possibility exists that the quality of hearing in musicians
is not at the same level as non-musicians, due in part to
noise exposure. Upon testing this hypothesis, it is expected
to find that non-musicians will show better hearing levels
than musicians. One outcome may be that musicians who have
been exposed to longer periods of loud noises over the course
of their careers will show significant hearing loss.
Background
In order to perform this study it was necessary to complete
a course on hearing testing and hearing conservation. The
Deep South Center for Occupational Health & Safety at UAB
offers a course on how to operate an audiometer and produce
an audiogram, taught by Ms. Georgia Holmes, MA, CCC-A, a CAOHC
approved course director. Elizabeth H. Maples, PhD, Director
of the Deep South Center, graciously allowed me to attend
the course despite my age. This course also gave the biological
reasons for hearing loss due to noise exposure. After taking
the Audiometric Testing & Hearing Conservation Course the
next phase is to test a pool of participants in both the musician
and non-musician category.
Fifteen musicians and fifteen non-musicians are given participant
numbers in order to keep their information confidential. The
participants of each category fill out a questionnaire asking
about past experiences with noise or health issues which may
adversely affect ones hearing. After a consent form is signed
by the participants, an otoscopic examination is performed
by the certified audiometric technician (Christian Talley)
prior to any audiometric or hearing test in order to determine
if the participant s ear canal is clean or occluded. If the
participant s ear canal is blocked with cerumen (ear wax)
or has other blockage this participant cannot have an audiometric
test performed due to the fact that it could invalidate the
test.
Each participant is tested using a manual Beltone audiometer
in a quiet room with little ambient noise as possible. Ambient
room noise can also invalidate the hearing test. Each participant
is informed on various aspects of the procedure by the audiometric
technician. The right ear is tested first unless the participant
notes having a better left ear.After the headphones are in
place, the participant will hear a series of tones or audio
cues. Beginning at 1000 hertz and 30 decibels, decibel levels
are tested within a frequency range of 500 to 6000 hertz.
If the participant doesnÕt respond to the cue, then the decibel
level is raised by 5 dB & he/she is tested at that level and
so on. If the participant responds to the cue, then the dB
level is dropped by 10 dB. This continues until the participant
responds to the cue at the same level dB on a given frequency
3 times, then that level is recorded as their hearing level
at that frequency. After testing each ear, the audiogram is
mapped out according to hearing levels.
After testing all thirty participants, it will be time to
evaluate the findings. All audiograms will be charted and
the results tallied in order to determine if hearing loss
is greater in musicians who have been exposed to loud, electronically
enhanced music in their career. Some of the factors which
may affect the outcome of the results are things such as the
age of the participant, if the participant has noisy hobbies,
how often someone listens to recreational music loudly, and
musician s type of musical preference (such as heavy-metal
music which has traditionally been performed louder than some
other forms of music), in addition to length of time performing
as a musician. Another major concern is the possibility that
another form of hearing damage may contribute to the outcome
of a participant s audiometric test.
Materials & Methods
In order to perform this study I needed to complete a course
on hearing testing and hearing conservation. The Deep South
Center for Occupational Health & Safety at UAB offers a course
on how to operate an audiometer to test the hearing of an
individual to produce an audiogram. This course was taught
by Ms. Georgia Holmes, MA, CCC-A, a CAOHC approved course
director. Elizabeth H. Maples, PhD, Director of the Deep South
Center, graciously allowed me to attend the course despite
my age. This course also taught the biological reasons for
hearing loss due to noise exposure. After becoming a certified
Hearing Conservationist it was then possible to test a pool
of participants in both the musician and non-musician categories.
Fifteen musicians and fifteen non-musicians agreed to participate
in the study and were given participant numbers in order to
keep their information confidential. The participants of each
category filled out a questionnaire asking about past experiences
with noise or health issues which may have adversely affected
one s hearing. After the consent form was signed by the participants,
an otoscopic examination was performed by the certified audiometric
technician (Christian Talley) prior to any audiometric or
hearing test in order to determine if the participan s ear
canal was clean or occluded. If the participant s ear canal
had been blocked with cerumen (ear wax) this participant would
not have had an audiometric test performed due to the fact
that it could invalidate the test. Only nine musicians and
nine non-musicians were allowed to take the hearing test.
Each final participant was tested using a manual Beltone
audiometer in a quiet room located on the UAB campus that
had as little ambient noise as possible. Ambient room noise
can also invalidate the hearing test. Each participant was
informed on various aspects of the procedure by the audiometric
technician. Using the Modified Hughson-Westlake method of
testing, the right ear was tested first unless the participant
noted having a better left ear. After the headphones were
in place, the participant noted if he/she heard a series of
tones or audio cues. Beginning at 1000 hertz and 30 decibels,
decibel levels were tested within a frequency range of 500
to 6000 hertz. If a participant didnÕt respond to the cue,
then the decibel level was raised by 5 dB & he/she is tested
at that level and so on as indicated in the standardized CAOHC
testing rules. If the participant responded to the cue, then
the dB level was dropped by 10 dB. This continued until the
participant responded to the cue at the same level dB on a
given frequency 3 times, then that level was recorded as their
hearing level at that frequency. Upon testing each ear, the
audiogram was mapped out according to hearing levels.
Findings/Results
After testing all eighteen participants, the findings indicate
an interesting, but not surprising trend. All audiograms were
charted and the results tallied in order to determine if hearing
loss is greater in musicians who have been exposed to loud,
electronically enhanced music in their career. The non-musicians
who were tested ranged in age from 28 to 55 and had acceptable
levels of hearing with little to no hearing loss. Almost all
of the non-musicians had exceptionally good hearing, while
the musicians, who ranged in age from 40 to 50, displayed
more overall hearing loss. Most of the musicians had an acceptable
range of hearing loss under 25 dB, but showed signs of noise-induced
hearing loss in the 4000 to 6000 Hz range as well as the lower
frequency range of 500 Hz. Very often, noise induced hearing
loss has its greatest impact in the 4000 to 6000 Hz range,
which is the frequency range of high pitched sounds such as
birds chirping or little children s voices. (Please see Table
1 Š Musicians Hearing Results and Table 2 Š Non-Musicians
Hearing Results)
One dramatically noticeable result was in Participant #M-013,
a rock musician, who had hearing loss in both ears but a severe
loss in his left ear of 65 decibels in the 6000 Hz range.
Another factor which may have contributed to his loss of hearing
is the fact that he also participates in a noisy hobby; dove
hunting. Another rock musician, Participant #M-002, displayed
moderate hearing loss in the higher frequency ranges though
not as severe as #M-013. Musicians with the least amount of
hearing loss appeared to be Jazz musicians without noisy hobbies.
It is interesting to note that Participant #NM-012, who had
once bartended in a rock & roll nightclub, had the highest
level of hearing loss for the non-musicians at the acceptable
level of 25 dB in the 4000/6000 Hz range. The next highest
loss on the non-musician side was Participant #NM-002 who
is not a professional musician, but does play the drums irregularly
and is over the age of 55 which may have contributed to the
20 dB loss in the left ear.
Conclusions
The majority of musicians who did not have noisy hobbies
or play extremely loud types of music appeared to have better
hearing than the musicians who participated in loud extracurricular
activities or played rock music. Surprisingly some of these
less-loud-noise-exposed-musicians had better hearing than
the non-musicians who reported listening to loud music or
who had noisy secondary activities. All of the musicians tested
performed regularly with electronic enhancement. Most performed
with a band as well as solo, with only one performing mainly
as a soloist. Only three of the musicians tested, had a primary
occupation other than musician. Of the non-musicians tested,
all except one, listened to recorded music daily as well as
live music monthly. Overwhelmingly, the volume of music listened
to was listed as loud. None of the tested subjects in either
group had major health concerns or prior ear surgeries. These
subjects can be accepted as a random group of varying ages,
ethnic diversity and backgrounds. Therefore, it is concluded
that although musicians are exposed to more noise it doesn
t necessarily mean that they have a higher risk of hearing
loss compared to non-musicians, however 4 out of 9 musicians
who participated in this study showed hearing loss over the
acceptable range of 30 dB. Other factors must be taken into
consideration in order to accurately evaluate this hypothesis.
Discussion
Due to the limited amount of participants in this study,
it should not be concluded that all musicians have hearing
loss problems. A continuation of this project would be more
helpful to enable further in depth study on this subject.
However, it is a noticeable outcome in this study that exposure
to loud sounds or noise for extended periods of time can affect
one s hearing levels. Some of the factors which may have affected
the outcome of the results are things such as the age of the
participant, if the participant had noisy hobbies, how often
someone listens to recreational music loudly, and musician
s type of musical preference (such as heavy-metal music which
has traditionally been performed louder than some other forms
of music), in addition to length of time performing as a musician.
Another major concern is the possibility that another form
of hearing damage may contribute to the outcome of a participant
s audiometric test. It is safe to say that more studies are
needed in this area as well as musician education on hearing
protection. Although many musicians in the industry who are
more affluent may have the resources available to purchase
high-tech ear monitors, there are many other less affluent
musicians who either do not have the resources for such equipment
or have not had the educational materials made available to
them to allow them to make wise choices concerning their hearing.
It would seem that many local musicians who are not American
Idols do not have the resources, either monetarily or educationally,
to stop hearing loss before it starts.
Bibliography
Elliot Berger, Julia Royster. An Earful of Sound Advice
about Hearing Protection. Indianapolis, Indiana: Aearo Company,
1988. This book illustrates types of hearing protection and
correct positioning of hearing protection. In addition, it
gives an indicator of noise damage along with charts, graphs
and diagrams.
Barbara A. Plog, Jill Niland, Patricia J. Quinlan. Fundamentals
of Industrial Hygiene - 4th Edition. Itasca, Illinois: National
Safety Council, 1996. Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene is
a textbook that focuses on complications encountered in the
workplace. It has detailed information on hearing loss due
to occupational hazards.
NIOSH. Occupational Noise Exposure. Cincinnati, Ohio: Publications
for the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health
- CDC, 1998. This is an overview of the criteria for the recommended
NIOSH standard for noise control in the workplace. This criteria
reevaluates the recommended exposure limit for occupational
noise and focuses on the prevention of hearing loss.
H.E.A.R. H.E.A.R. Research Study Survey Preliminary Findings
Released. HEARNet (Published 2003): October 2003 .
An overview of the study on musicians and hearing loss from
amplified sounds. This ten year research study is aimed at
the education of the musical community and general public
on the dangers of listening to music too loud for lengthy
periods of time.
K. Kaharit, G. Zachau, M. Eklof, L. Sandsjo, C. Moller .
Assessment of Hearing and hearing disorders in rock/jazz Musicians.
International Journal of Audiology (2003): 279-88. The aim
of this study is to determine the amount of hearing loss among
rock and jazz musicians. Over 139 participants were tested
and filled out questionnaires to determine the frequency of
hearing loss and sound distortion.
Progressive Conductive Hearing Loss. Auditory Demonstrations.
CD-ROM. Houston, TX: Hoover & Keith, 2000. This CD demonstrates
hearing variations measured by decibels that mimics the way
a person with hearing loss would hear speech. The series of
auditory demonstrations illustrate fundamental concepts of
hearing conservation.
NIOSH. A Practical Guide to Preventing Hearing Loss. NIOSH
online (2003): 96-110. Oct. 2003 www.ded.gov/niosh/96-100x.html.
This guide contains charts and graphs on hearing loss and
hearing protection devices. It suggests that by using hearing
protection, the chance of hearing loss is reduced.
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