Noise Exposure: How It Affects Hearing in Music Majors Compared to Non-Music Majors

Abstract

There has been minimal research comparing the daily noise exposure of student music majors to student non-music majors. There has also been limited research on the hearing of these individuals and their audiometric findings. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine and compare the noise exposure and hearing of music majors and non-music majors. In addition, the current study compared the attitudes and perspectives of the two student populations through a qualitative interview process. The following questions were addressed: 1. How does the noise exposure of Student Music Majors differ from that of Student Non-Music Majors? 2. Is there a difference in hearing thresholds between the Hughson-Westlake procedure (5dB step size) and the modified procedure (2 dB step size)? 3. Do Student Music Majors exhibit different hearing thresholds than Student Non-Music Majors? 4. What are the attitudes and perceptions of Student Music Majors and Student Non-Music Majors about noise exposure and how it affects hearing? KEYWORDS: noise exposure; hearing; hearing protection devices; noise induced hearing loss; student music majors; student non-music majors; hearing thresholds