When listened to for too loud, for too long, music can incur the same hearing damage as experienced by those exposed to occupational noise.1 Rock/pop musicians have been well documented as being ‘at risk’ of such damage,3 yet little has been done to investigate if Live Music Sound Engineers, at the core of the live-music experience, are also at risk.

1. The Hearing Health of Live Music Sound Engineers
Siobhan McGinnity1,2, Robert Cowan1,2, Elizabeth Beach 2, 3, Johannes Mulder4
Background
When listened to for too loud, for too long, music can incur the
same hearing damage as experienced by those exposed to
occupational noise.1 Rock/pop musicians have been well
documented as being ‘at risk’ of such damage,3 yet little has
been done to investigate if Live Music Sound Engineers, at
the core of the live-music experience, are also at risk.
Considering sound levels in live music venues have been
consistently recorded between 92 and 106 dB (Laeq),3 it
would stand to reason that sound engineers are also at risk
due to their professional sound exposure.
Methods
Live Music Sound Engineers have been recruited to complete
this study in two phases;
A: Hearing Health Survey
Covering participants hearing health, training in hearing
awareness, sound exposure, and use of hearing protectors.
B: Hearing Assessment
The audiological test battery extends the general assessments
of pure-tone audiometry, otoscopy and tympanometry to
included threshold assessment up to 16 kHz, LiSNs, DP-OAE’s
and Uncomfortable Loudness Level testing.
Preliminary Survey Results
23 Sound Engineers (age 21 < 51 years)
median experience of 9 years in the industry.
26%
Report ‘frequently or always’ tinnitus
And 88% report having experienced tinnitus
(or a worsening of) after a work-shift.
creating sound value www.hearingcrc.org
1 The University of Melbourne, Department of Otolaryngology, 2 The HEARing Cooperative Research Centre, 3 The National Acoustics Laboratories, 4 Murdoch University
Aim
To investigate if sound engineers are at greater risk of
hearing damage due to their work-related exposure.
Implications
Whilst the use of hearing protection amongst sound engineers
is reportedly high, the frequency of use is low.
The rate of hearing symptoms experienced after a work are
very high, in particular, 88% of Sound Engineers report
experiencing tinnitus, or a worsening of, after a shift.
The prevalence of tinnitus (26.1%) is also greater than that
seen in the general population (10<15%).2
It would appear that Sound Engineers are at greater risk of
hearing damage due to their occupational exposure, and
resistant towards using hearing protection that might off-
set this damage.
References
1El Dib, R. P., Silva, E. M. K., Morais, J. F., & Trevisani, V. F. M. (2008). Prevalence of high frequency hearing loss
consistent with noise exposure among people working with sound systems and general population in Brazil: a cross-
sectional study. BMC Public Health, 8, 151. http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-151
2Henry, J. A., Dennis, K. C., & Schechter, M. A. (2005). General review of tinnitus: prevalence, mechanisms, effects, and
management. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR, 48(5), 1204–35.
http://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2005/084)
3Patel, J. (2008). Musicians’ hearing protection. A review. Derbyshire, UK.
What’s Next?
Data collection (n <40) will be completed by October 2016,
after which the results of part A and B will be analysed. This
study will be presented at the 2017 conference of the National
Hearing Conservation Association.
95.7% have used
hearing protectors at work
…but, 72.5% use them
less than half their work time
36.4% less than 10% of the time.
Foam earplugs are the most
commonly used (86.4%).
27.4% had used custom-
filtered hearing protectors.