Hearing loss in British Army musicians

BACKGROUND: Military musicians increasingly fulfil front line roles. Existing literature suggests that musicians are at greater risk of hearing loss than the general population. It is important to ascertain whether these findings apply to military musicians if they are to be placed in operational acoustically hazardous environments.

AIMS: To compare hearing loss between groups of British Army musicians and with their administrative (non-musician) counterparts.

METHODS: Routine health surveillance audiometric data for a group of military musicians were compared with military administrative staff during the first 8-12 years of their careers. Structured interviews were used to identify those meeting the study inclusion criteria (8 year minimum service, no significant, relevant medical history, no previous extraordinary loud noise exposure, service within study employment group throughout military career), and to clarify the instrument played.

RESULTS: Eighty-four musicians and 44 administrators participated. Using the Health & Safety Executive's (HSE's) age- and gender-correcting system, 12 (14%) musicians and 9 (20%) non-musicians had a deterioration in hearing. The overall odds ratio for developing hearing loss in musicians was 0.65 (95% CI 0.25-1.68). Compared with woodwind instrumentalists, the odds ratio for hearing loss in brass instrumentalists was 2.00 (95% CI 0.85-3.44) and for percussionists 1.83 (95% CI 0.77-2.90).

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that military musicians are at no greater risk of hearing loss than their administrative counterparts after 8-12 years in service. This may represent a healthy-worker effect. There is no statistically significant differential risk of hearing loss between different instrumental groups.