Large music events can damage hearing

by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition

Photo credit: Wendy Wei

According to recently published research, large-scale music events — such as outdoor concerts with amplified sound — can cause subclinical hearing damage. A Belgian research team used sophisticated testing in young adults who attended these events, and found hearing damage that was not detected by standard screening audiometry.

I think this is an important study. Why? It was comprehensive and followed the subjects over time. It didn’t rely on estimates of noise exposure or measurements made at the festival to comply with European noise exposure limits, but instead used individual noise dosimetry. Any longitudinal research following individuals or populations is difficult and costly to do, as is any research involving sophisticated testing protocols. Few researchers would try to do this type of study, correlating individual noise exposure histories with results of sophisticated auditory testing, in any setting.

The research supports the premise that I presented at the 189th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Honolulu last December: What is commonly called Age-Related Hearing Loss is really noise-induced hearing loss in elderly persons, and is not part of normal physiological aging. Multiple studies show that most people living in industrialized societies are exposed to noise levels sufficient to cause hearing loss.

We are rarely exposed to long-term noise at music festival levels like the subjects in this study, but over the course of weeks or months, we are still exposed to excessive noise. This happens in bars, restaurants and movie theaters, at sports events, during daily commutes or while listening to music or podcasts. Intermittent noise exposure, especially impulse noise, probably affects our hearing more than we know.

Protecting oneself from both subclinical and clinically apparent auditory damage is easy. If something sounds loud, it’s too loud and one’s auditory health is at risk. Turn down the volume, leave the noisy environment and one’s hearing should last into old age.