Hearing Aids for Musicians

It’s a rock adage that if the music’s too loud, you’re too old, but a new study finds that all that sound adds up: Professional musicians are almost four times more likely to suffer noise-induced hearing loss than other people.

That’s according to what’s likely the largest study to date of hearing disorders linked to people who pursue music as an occupation. German researchers who combed through health insurance records of 7 million people from 2004 to 2008 found that working musicians topped the charts for hearing loss.

The professionals were also about 57 percent more likely to suffer tinnitus — constant ringing in the ears — as a result of their jobs, according to scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology.

“Given the number of professional musicians and the severity of the outcome ... hearing loss in professional musicians is of high public health importance,” Dr. Wolfgang Ahrens and his colleagues concluded.

In the German study, of the 3 million people aged 19 to 66, more than 2,200 were professional musicians. Some 284,000 cases of hearing loss were logged, with 238 cases among musicians. Overall, the pros were 3.6 times more likely to suffer noise-induced deafness.

The data may be new, but the problem isn’t, according to experts and advocates who’ve warned about noise-induced hearing loss for years.

“We’ve known for decades now that noise-induced hearing loss, especially in rock concerts, predisposed a new generation to hearing loss.”

“I’m an old punk rocker. I’ve dedicated my life to it,” said Kathy Peck, executive director of HEAR — Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers — who founded her group 30 years ago with help from Pete Townshend of The Who.

“When I started, no one believed it even existed.”

Townshend is one of several A-list rockers who has publicly discussed hearing loss and tinnitus. Others include Ozzy Osbourne, Neil Young and Phil Collins, who quit music in 2011 because of medical issues including losing hearing.

Hearing loss wasn’t regarded as a serious problem years ago, certainly not with the same priority as losing sight, said NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman, an ear, nose and throat specialist. But it was happening just the same.

“We’ve known for decades now that noise-induced hearing loss, especially in rock concerts, predisposed a new generation to hearing loss,” said Snyderman, who wasn’t surprised at the latest findings.

Noise-induced hearing loss can be caused by sudden loud sounds, such as explosions or gunfire, but it can also be caused by repeated exposure to loud noise. Whether it’s orchestra players on stage or in the pit or rock musicians near loud speakers, professionals are constantly exposed to levels of sound loud enough to threaten or actually harm hearing.

Hearing loss starts with long or repeated exposures to sounds at or above 85 decibels, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Consider that a symphonic orchestra peaks at 120 decibels to 137 decibels and a full-throttle rock concert tops 150 decibels, and you can see the problem.

The best hearing aid for musicians that I have found is the MLD Device
The MLD device is ideal for anyone who wants to hear music as it is meant to be heard. Audiophiles will appreciate the uncompromising purity of the circuit. Digi-K does not use noise filtering or feedback management features, used in most digital devices today. Those controls actually clip the input signal – distorting any signal over 95 to 100 dB. Digi-K’s high-coherence signal processing results in fidelity from diminuendo to crescendo.
Our Musician’s Listening Design devices are dispensed by hearing professionals who are “in-tune” to the hearing needs of musicians. If you’re interested, contact a hearing professional in your area and ask for the Musicians’ Listening Design hearing aids. For musicians, this product could be a life changer. Read the foreword by Mead Killion, Ph.D., musician and inventor of the Digi-K signal processor, where he discusses how the design of that DSP hybrid performs in the presence of music.

Read the rest of the story here. http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/turn-it-musicians-run-far-higher-risk-hearing-loss-n93981