Can Musicians have Tinnitus? Yes, yes they can!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you are all hanging in there. Today’s topic will be circling back to musicians and the likelihood of developing tinnitus or ringing in your ears.

In researching various topics to talk about, I came across an interesting article that I thought I would summarize and share for you here.

Musicians are at a much higher risk of developing tinnitus than non-musicians. Researchers Scmidt, Paarup, and Baelum asked Musicians to estimate the amount of time spent in rehearsals, practicing, performing, attending concerts, etc. The annual sound emission level averaged to be about 8 hours/day for 260 days/year (2018). That is a lot of sound exposure! When you are consistently exposed to that level of sound, you put their ears at a much higher risk of developing early-onset hearing loss or constant ringing in the ears. Once this damage occurs, your ears are unable to recover or “bounce back” to the way that they were functioning before.

Below you will find a graph of the various instruments in the orchestra, and the percentage of each musical instrument group who experienced either tinnitus in the right ear, left ear, both ears, or have experienced no tinnitus at all. For example, out of 21 French Horn players, about 10% experienced tinnitus in their left ear, with almost 60% experiencing tinnitus in both ears. Find your instrument group and see what level of risk you have of developing tinnitus.

Overall researchers found:

• 35% of all musicians had experienced tinnitus lasting more than 5 minutes (nearly 4 musicians for every 10!).

• 51% of musicians with tinnitus report it in both ears.

• The severity of the tinnitus was worse among wind players when compared to string players.

• Severe tinnitus is defined as “tinnitus with an impact on daily life within the orchestra or outside the orchestra.” 19% of musicians reported they had this severity of tinnitus.

• Musicians are at a much higher risk of developing tinnitus than non-musicians. Researchers Schmidt, Paarup, and Baelum asked Musicians to estimate the amount of time spent in rehearsals, practicing, performing, attending concerts, etc. The annual sound emission level averaged to be about 8 hours/day for 260 days/year (2018). That is a lot of sound exposure! When you are consistently exposed to that level of sound, you put their ears at a much higher risk of developing early-onset hearing loss or constant ringing in the ears. Once this damage occurs, your ears are unable to recover or “bounce back” to the way that they were functioning before. before.

In order to reduce the chance of developing tinnitus, you must practice healthy hearing habits. Some things you can do are:

1) Wear hearing protection.

• If you are interested in hearing protection specific for musicians, visit https://musiciansear.wixsite.com to and click on the “products” tab.

• Remember, ANY hearing protection is better than NO hearing protection.

2) Give your ears a break from long practice hours.

• Set your instrument down and rest your ears for a period of time.

• Short intermittent breaks will help your ears recover in between practice sessions.

3) Turn down the volume.

• If you are practicing with a recorded track or are just enjoying music in your downtime, lower the volume of your speakers and headphones. These can be culprits in damaging hearing, so do your ears a favor and turn down the volume. You should be able to hear the general conversation happening around you.

I hope you all have a great rest of your day! Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have, or comment below your thoughts on this blog post.

Take care,

Nicole

Scmidt, J.H., Paarup, H.M., & Baelum, J. (2019). Tinnitus severity is related to the sound exposure of symphony orchestra musicians independently of hearing impairment. Ear and Hearing, 40(1), 88-97.