The comprehensive audiological evaluation in young violinists: the medial olivocochlear system, high frequency thresholds, and the auditory figure ground test

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader The comprehensive audiological evaluation in young violinists: the medial olivocochlear system, high frequency thresholds, and the auditory figure ground test Via http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Oct 14. doi: 10.1007/s00405-021-07122-8. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine whether the medial olivocochlear hearing system functions, the high frequency hearing thresholds and speech discrimination in noise performance can guide us in assessing the risk of hearing loss among violinists. It is aimed to investigate possible hearing damage that is not reflected in pure tone hearing thresholds in violinists. METHODS: The participants (n = 50) who have normal hearing and the ages of 18-30 were included in this study in two groups: violinists and controls who are unrelated to music. High frequency audiometer, auditory figure ground test (AFG) for speech discrimination in noise performance, Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) and contralateral suppression on DPOAE for medial olivocochlear system function tests were applied to all participants as well as routine audiological tests. RESULTS: The high frequency hearing thresholds were obtained higher in violinists compared to the controls. In violinists, the AFG test scores and the suppression amount at 1 kHz were lower than the controls. In addition, DPOAE responses at 4-6 kHz were obtained lower in violinists (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The reason for high frequency hearing loss, decreased DPOAE response amplitudes, and poor medial olivocochlear function in violinists can be explained by the long-term exposure to high-level noise caused by the violin, one of the closest musical instruments. Routine and comprehensive audiological follow-up is crucial for musicians. PMID:34648049 | DOI:10.1007/s00405-021-07122-8 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.