It was found that 95percent of the 966 music students had acceptable levels of hearing loss according to the hearing categories outlined in the Control of Noise at Work Regulation appendix. Over the three years, there is minor variation in the character of the audiograms for the instrument groups, but consistently the girls have better hearing than the boys. The brass group have the highest incidence of warning levels of hearing loss. For the 2009 music students an additional frequency was tested, 8 kHz, this allowed a 'music' notch in the audiograms to be clearly seen, particularly for the brass. It is suggested that for music, as produced solely by a musician, health surveillance audiograms should include the 8 kHz frequency. Of course over time the 6 kHz notch will disappear into the age related hearing loss, but for students there is a clear advantage in testing for early signs of hearing loss.
展开▼
