Vestibulocochlear system and quality of life in musicians: a study on the effects of auditory exposure.
Magali Scheuer, Bianca Nunes Pimentel, Priscilla Dos Santos Martins and 2 others
PMID 39907361WHAT IT FOUND
Musicians showed faster vestibular reflexes than non-musicians but had higher hearing thresholds at 3 and 4 kHz.
Half reported symptoms like sound intolerance and stress. Quality of life was generally satisfactory, with the lowest scores in the environmental domain.
Key findings
01Musicians demonstrated statistically significant shorter latencies in cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) for P13 and N23 components in both ears compared to controls.
0210.71% of musicians had tonal thresholds equal to or greater than 30 dBHL at specific frequencies of 3 and 4 kHz, indicating high-frequency hearing changes.
03On average, 50% of the musician sample perceived auditory and extra-auditory symptoms after sound exposure, with difficulty understanding speech in noise and intolerance to sounds being most common.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot establish causality between musical practice and the observed physiological changes. The sample was selected by convenience, which may introduce selection bias. The control group did not complete the quality of life questionnaire, so comparisons of quality of life between musicians and non-musicians were not possible. Symptom reporting relied on self-perception, which can be subjective.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial support and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the faster vestibular reflex latencies in musicians as a sign of superior vestibular health or balance function. These differences were observed in a cross-sectional comparison and may reflect neuroplastic adaptation to musical training rather than a clinical advantage, especially given the concurrent reports of hearing symptoms and high-frequency threshold shifts.