A longitudinal study investigating the effects of noise exposure on behavioural, electrophysiological and self-report measures of hearing in musicians with normal audiometric thresholds

Musicians are at risk of hearing loss and tinnitus due to regular exposure to high levels of noise. This level of risk may have been underestimated previously since damage to the auditory system, such as cochlear synaptopathy, may not be easily detectable using standard clinical measures. Most previous research investigating hearing loss in musicians has involved cross-sectional study designs that may capture only a snapshot of hearing health in relation to noise exposure. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of cumulative noise exposure on behavioural, electrophysiological, and self-report indices of hearing damage in early-career musicians and non-musicians with normal hearing over a 2-year period. Participants completed an annual test battery consisting of pure tone audiometry, extended high-frequency hearing thresholds, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), speech-perception-in-noise, auditory brainstem responses, and self-report measures of tinnitus, hyperacusis, and hearing in background noise. Participants also completed the Noise Exposure Structured Interview to estimate cumulative noise exposure across the study period. Linear mixed models assessed changes over time. The longitudinal analysis comprised 64 early-career musicians (female n = 34; age range at T0 = 18-26 years) and 30 non-musicians (female n = 20; age range at T0 = 18-27 years). There were few longitudinal changes as a result of musicianship. Small improvements over time in some measures may be attributable to a practice/test-retest effect. Some measures (e.g., DPOAE indices of outer hair cell function) were associated with noise exposure at each time point, but did not show a significant change over time. A small proportion of participants reported a worsening of their tinnitus symptoms, which participants attributed to noise exposure, or not using hearing protection. Future longitudinal studies should attempt to capture the effects of noise exposure over a longer period, taken at several time points, for a precise measure of how hearing changes over time. Hearing conservation programmes for “at risk” individuals should closely monitor distortion product otoacoustic emissions to detect early signs of noise-induced hearing loss when audiometric thresholds are clinically normal.