A Survey on Hearing Health of Musicians in Professional and Amateur Orchestras.
Robin Hake, Gunter Kreutz, Ulrike Frischen and 5 others
PMID 39648735WHAT IT FOUND
Professional musicians face much higher noise exposure than amateurs, yet both groups report similar rates of hearing problems.
Most musicians rarely use hearing protection. Professionals are more aware of hearing risks but disapprove of hearing aids more than amateurs, who often lack basic awareness.
Key findings
01Two-thirds of musicians reported at least one hearing problem, with no significant difference in prevalence between professional and amateur groups.
02Hearing protection use is low overall, with only 1% of amateur and 9% of professional playing time fully protected.
03Professional musicians had significantly higher hearing health awareness but also significantly higher disapproval of hearing aids compared to amateurs.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relied on self-reported hearing status and noise exposure, which may be inaccurate. Matching reduced the sample size and excluded unmatched participants. Self-selection bias may mean participants were already more interested in hearing health. The noise exposure metric (UNE) is a coarse estimate and may not capture all real-world variations. Hearing aid users who had quit music due to device inadequacy were not represented (survivorship bias).
Declared interests
Funding was provided by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation).
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that professional musicians have healthier hearing than amateurs because the rates of reported hearing problems were similar. The similar rates may mask subclinical damage or be influenced by the fact that professionals are more likely to have their hearing checked and manage their exposure, whereas amateurs may have undiagnosed issues.