Sound exposure for musicians and individuals in the music industry is complex but auditory health is critical for professional performance and quality of life. Better understanding the unique sound exposure of these individuals will help identify potential risk of damage to the auditory system and inform clinical practice aimed at preventing and managing Music Induced Hearing Disorders (MIHD).
This paper includes preliminary findings from the Use of In-Ear Dosimetry to Understand Musician’s Unique Sound Exposure (MUSE) study. The current analysis includes the results from 14 school-aged music learners (SML), a participant group consisting of musicians ages 10-18 who are learning to play the violin, whose ear canals are fully developed, but who have casual practice and performance schedules. Sound level measurements were recorded from three near-field microphones and two in-ear microphones while the participants played the violin. The five simultaneous measurements—1.5 meters from the violinist, 5 cm from the left tragus, 5 cm from the right tragus, microphone in real ear (MIRE) on the right, and MIRE on the left—were compared looking for potential asymmetries in sound exposure in young musicians who play an instrument in close proximity to one ear. Analysis of asymmetric risk was coupled with clinical measurements of auditory function to determine if asymmetric exposure is correlated to asymmetries in early indicators of auditory function: Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE) amplitude, high frequency audiometric thresholds (HFA), and speech in noise scores.
The preliminary data confirms that young violinists, ages 10-18, produce sounds at potentially hazardous levels while playing the violin in individual practice sessions. In-ear sound level measurements were higher than near-field measurements with significant asymmetric exposure—left ear exposure higher than right ear. Early indicators of auditory deficits for this age cohort are within normal limits, although individual variation at higher frequencies (DPOAE amplitude and HFA thresholds) and asymmetry in the ability to understand speech in noise was observed (Words-in-Noise interpretation using age-appropriate norms).
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