Prevalence of hearing protection use and subjective auditory symptoms among Spanish classical orchestral musicians

Abstract

Introduction: Sensorineural hearing loss caused by exposure to noise is one of the most frequent causes of deafness. Professional musicians have significant occupational exposure to high levels of noise. Use of hearing protection among musicians could substantially prevent hearing damage, though the rate of use is quite low.

Methods and material: A questionnaire on the use of protective hearing devices, hearing care, and subjective judgments of hearing difficulties was completed by a group of classical musicians from Spain. We analysed the frequency of device use by instrument based on contingency tables analysed by χ² tests.

Results: One hundred and ninety-four Spanish classical orchestral musicians voluntarily completed the questionnaire. The percentage of musicians who reported using hearing protection in our survey was very low and varied with the type of instrument played. However, we found a high prevalence of subjective auditory disorders within this group.

Conclusion: Few Spanish musicians use hearing protection. Training on hearing-loss prevention in this field and better protective devices could increase device use and improve the auditory health of this group.

Keywords: Classical music; Conservación del oído/prevención de la hipoacusia; Hearing conservation/hearing loss prevention; Música clásica; Noise; Ruido; Tinnitus.