Music Induced Hearing Loss
is a Growing Problem
Courtesy of the
Hearing Foundation of Canada
 Those who think or dream of making music, especially loud music, as a way of life should also think about protecting themselves against hearing loss, starting when they’re young, says Toronto audiologist Marshall Chasin, co-founder of Musicians Clinics of Canada. He has seen hundreds of musicians with hearing problems related to their work.
And those young people driving around in what Chasin calls "boom box cars" with the music up full blast should seriously think about turning the volume way down, he says.
"Those cars with $20,000 stereo systems can generate well up to 130 decibels, and that’s very, very close to your pain threshold," said Chasin. "Yet people like that. We find that these people who drive around in these boom box cars with their radio blaring day and night do have the beginning of a music-induced hearing loss."
"And once you have a hearing-induced hearing loss, it is permanent. That’s why prevention is so important."
Chasin, and physician-musician Dr. John Chong, run two clinics, in Toronto and in Hamilton, for musicians to treat injuries, prevent further injuries, and for music-related damage to hearing, to offer a host of hearing protection devices and strategies, including the alteration of their acoustic environments.
Chong specializes in treating physical injuries and Chasin in altering sound environments to ease the high-noise stress on the ears of the musicians.
"In terms of hearing protection [devices], there are now a series of different types of miniature ear protectors - ear plugs that can actually take music from a damaging noise level to a non-damaging level. And there’s no echo in your head from it. It’s as if it’s acoustically invisible," said Chasin.
Chasin, who has been an audiologist for 19 years and is a part-time clarinet player with a love of music, said hearing loss from loud music can be "very serious" in some cases, and classical musicians, more than rock and roll musicians, suffer greater hearing loss.
He quoted one American study in 1991 involving the Chicago Symphony that found more than 50 per cent of its musicians had significant hearing loss.
"Classical musicians play six to eight concerts a week, then teach for five hours, then practice for five hours. The sheer number of hours they put in is much greater than rock and roll musicians," said Chasin.
Chasin said that when he conducted sound measurements with the National Ballet in a study in 1991 he found noise levels at the shoulders of flute players to be in excess of 126 decibels, "and that’s about the same as at a Tragically Hip concert."
"It’s been very difficult to educate conductors who say, 'I can believe rock and roll is damaging, but I can’t believe Beethoven is damaging.' But the bottom line is that Beethoven is," he said.
"Gradually, we are getting to the schools, encouraging high school band teachers to include hearing protection as part of their normal curriculum."
Audiology is a relatively new field in Canada, with five universities across the country currently graduating small numbers of audiologists. And Musicians Clinics of Canada, launched in 1986, is unique in the country for treating only musicians. It sees between 400 and 500 musicians a year.
"Nine out of 10 musicians referred to us for problems that are not hearing-related have a hearing loss," said Chasin. "That’s because hearing loss is so gradual, so subtle, that people don’t always notice it until it’s serious."
Musicians suffer not just from hearing loss but also a ringing in their ears and various pitch-perception problems, whereby they may want to play a C note but inadvertently play a C sharp note.
Some musicians, such as young dedicated violinists, have the beginning of hearing loss at the age of 10, he said.
"Unfortunately, hearing loss is growing, primarily because the number one cause of hearing loss is being over the age of 50," said Chasin. "It’s inevitable that you will have a hearing loss. We live in an aging society, so people will have more and more difficulty with their hearing."
Music lovers should be moderate in the length of time and level of loud music they expose their ears to, said Chasin, who urges young musicians to check out the Musicians Clinics of Canada Web site for a host of tips on saving your hearing. It’s at www.musiciansclinics.com/injfaq.asp
Rock stars now use ear monitors to keep down the levels of sound they absorb on the stage while performing, he said. "They look like hearing aids but they’re not. They are little hearing aids with wires attached to them, so that each musician has his or her own loudspeaker made for the ear, and they are able to precisely control how loud it is in their ear," Chasin said.
"It’s safer, and less damaging."
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