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Musicians risk impaired hearing

September 16, 2002

A study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Sweden, showed that 74 percent of rock/jazz musicians in the test group have impaired hearing. But as many as 68 percent of classical musicians also evinced impairments. A large proportion of the musicians have troublesome combinations of hearing problems, such as tinnitus.

It is important to meter not only hearing but also other injuries to the ear when mapping the occurrence of impaired hearing among musicians, according to a study presented in a recently defended dissertation at Göteborg. The study maintains that other injuries to the ear often entail a much greater handicap than minor hearing loss in this profession, which is extremely dependent on excellent hearing.

It is common to equate hearing impairment with loss of hearing, but impairment can also include tinnitus (some form of sound experienced in the ear or in the head), hyperacusis (oversensitivity to sound), distortion, or diplacusis (tones suddenly rising or falling when the volume is lowered or raised).

Hearing tests showed good hearing for both classical and rock/jazz musicians, but the material contains individual musicians with greatly impaired hearing, probably owing to individual thresholds for withstanding loud sounds.

Many victims of tinnitus or hyperacusis report that their problems become more acute following exposure to high levels of sound from music. There is nevertheless reason to suspect that musicians’ choice of profession involves more of a life style than a simple job and that the profession offers many positive components that to some extent make up for or moderate the perception of tinnitus, hyperacusis, and other injuries, according to the dissertation by the recently graduated doctor and audiologist Kim K'¤h'¤ri.

Vetenskapsrådet (The Swedish Research Council)