Music students: conventional hearing thresholds and at high frequencies

INTRODUCTION: Research has shown that hearing loss in musicians may cause difficulty in timbre recognition and tuning of instruments. AIM: To analyze the hearing thresholds from 250 Hz to 16,000 Hz in a group of music students and compare them to a non-musician group in order to determine whether high-frequency audiometry is a useful tool in the early detection of hearing impairment. METHODS: Study design was a retrospective observational cohort. Conventional and high-frequency audiometry was performed in 42 music students (Madsen Itera II audiometer and TDH39P headphones for conventional audiometry, and HDA 200 headphones for high-frequency audiometry). RESULTS: Of the 42 students, 38.1% were female students and 61.9% were male students, with a mean age of 26 years. At conventional audiometry, 92.85% had hearing thresholds within normal limits; but even within the normal limits, the worst results were observed in the left ear for all frequencies, except for 4000 Hz; compared to the non-musician group, the worst results occurred at 500 Hz in the left ear, and at 250 Hz, 6000 Hz, 9000 Hz, 10,000 Hz, and 11,200 Hz in both the ears. CONCLUSION: The periodic evaluation of high-frequency thresholds may be useful in the early detection of hearing loss in musicians.