Hearing loss in steelband musicians.

Abstract

To determine the difference in hearing between a group of steelband musicians (pannists) and a control group. We conducted a controlled cross-sectional pilot study consisting of 29 steelpan players and 30 control subjects from a steelpan orchestra (steelband) in the Otolaryngology Department of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. Significantly more steelpan players had a hearing loss than the control subjects at 3000 Hz, 4000 Hz, and 6000 Hz ( P < 0.01). chi 2 testing for trend demonstrated that the longer a steelpan player played his instrument the greater the hearing loss. These results indicate that pannists suffer permanent auditory damage from high-intensity sound levels and that preventative measures are required to prevent this hearing loss, particularly in younger players.