Longitudinal evaluation of hearing loss and other hearing complaints in professional musicians

Exposure to excessive noise can contribute to temporary or permanent threshold
shifts, where also temporal threshold shifts may lead to permanent hearing loss
if the ear has not given change to recover. Although music is perceived as
pleasant sounds, frequent and loud exposure to music also carries risk of
damage to the auditory system, which is considered equally high as the risk due
to noise exposure. Professional musicians whose job exposes them to excessively
high sound levels during orchestral ensembles, trainings and individual
practice, are therefore at risk of developing hearing loss, known as music
induced hearing loss.

Study the long term effects of frequent exposure to high sound levels on
hearing status in orchestral musicians. To assess the hearing condition,
several clinically available tests will be used, but for the assessment of
diplacusis a new test is required, that has been developed recently and still
needs validation. An additional objective of this study is to validate the
diplacusis test and assess its reproducibility in normal hearing listeners,
before the diplacusis test will be applied in the main study on orchestral
musicians.

This study is designed as a prospective, observational study divided in two
parts; first the validation and reproducibility of a new diplacusistest (N=18).
The second part (N=45) is the part where the hearing of professional musicians
is monitored and changes over a period of 10 - 12 years are researched.

The risk of participating in this study is negligible since the tests that will
be executed are similar or equal to those used in clinical practice. The
participant*s main burden is the time it takes to visit the AMC, which will be
only one hour for part 1 and two hours for part 2. The participants take part
once in the study. Hence, the burden of the participants is minimal.