The waiting room of the Centre for Health Promotion looks like the audition room for a symphony orchestra or a rock and roll group. The centre, which specializes in helping musicians, encourages its clients to bring their instruments to their appointment. They play for Dr. John Chong and Prof. Marshall Chasin, not for applause, but to ascertain what physical price they are paying for their love of music.
Chong's training as a concert pianist provided him with firsthand knowledge of the physical toll that playing music can take on the body. Chasin's expertise in audiology, combined with his love and appreciation of music, made him the ideal audiologist for the centre, which opened in Hamilton in 1986. A second centre recently opened in Toronto.
Hearing loss is one of the biggest problems, with 90% of musicians experiencing some sort of hearing loss, according to Chasin. And many of these people don't seek medical attention until the damage is so severe that it impedes their ability as a musician.
Rock musicians tend to lose their hearing due to the sheer volume of noise. Statistically, classical musicians are at an equal or greater risk of hearing loss. The reasons vary from the number of hours they practise to where they sit in the orchestra. Hearing loss can even be related to whether musicians like the music they play.
To prevent loss, Chong and Chasin offer hearing protection designed with musicians in mind. What makes these protective devices unique is that they reduce sound levels by 15, 20 or 30 decibels but the sound waves remain intact, even the high notes that cause the greatest damage. The fact that the integrity of the music remains is vital in convincing musicians to wear hearing protection. In the past, they complained that the bass line and the high notes were lost when hearing protection was worn. Figure 1
Chasin hopes that with the innovations taking place in hearing protection, younger musicians will respect the potential for hearing loss and take preventive measures.-[copyright sign] Peter Wilton, Toronto