Feasibility study for the hearing assessment of classical music student using Otoacoustic Emissions

Abstract

Since the introduction and enforcement of the Control of Noise at Work Regulations in 2008 continuing research has been undertaken on five thousand students of the Royal Academy of Music to understand their hearing acuity. Standard audiometric screening methods were employed for both entry and exit testing. It was established that the music students obtained results that in over 50% of cases presented negative hearing losses as compared against the Health and Safety Executive categories. This presented an interesting problem which has now been addressed in an attempt to understand the hearing acuity of classical musicians using an otoacoustic emission based methodology. A feasibility study was undertaken in July 2021 of 120 musicians using Hearing Coach software for the analysis and Path Medical OAE instrument to undertake the measurements. The results presented show similar trends and thus provide reassurance that OAE can be used to assess the hearing of music students.