ABSTRACT
Purpose:
to verify whether the frequent musical exposure can impair peripheral and central auditory pathway responses in professional orchestral musicians.
Methods:
45 male individuals from 19 to 40 years old participated in the study. They were divided into two groups: one comprising 30 orchestral musicians who played strings or wind instruments, and another with 15 nonmusicians. The two groups were submitted to both conventional and high-frequency pure-tone audiometry, transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions, and frequency-following response. The results were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, using the one-way ANOVA unmatched samples parametric test, with a 5% significance level.
Results:
no significant differences were observed between the hearing thresholds in both conventional and high-frequency audiometry and frequency-following response. However, there were statistically significant differences between transient-evoked otoacoustic emission responses, with lower responses to musicians in comparison to the nonmusician group.
Conclusion:
the results suggest that frequent musical exposure experienced by orchestral musicians can impair the cochlear hair cells’ function. Therefore, audiological monitoring is important to detect subclinical impairments.
Keywords:
Music; Hearing; Electrophysiology; Hearing Loss; Cochlea