|
 Dr. Wilko Grolman and colleagues at University Medical Center
Utrecht in The Netherlands searched for published studies containing
the keywords “music” and “earplugs” and screened 228 resulting
papers. All but four were not eligible for inclusion in the review
and only two were highly relevant and did not have a high risk of
bias, in the reviewers’ estimation.
Two studies simply examined people who chose on their own to wear or
not wear earplugs, while two randomized controlled trials tested
what happened when participants were assigned to wear earplugs or
not.
Two studies reported on hearing loss and tinnitus while one only
reported hearing loss.
The two best studies were different enough that the researchers
couldn’t combine their data and analyze the results, the reviewers
wrote. Both included 29 concert attendees and performed audiometry
before and after the concerts. In one study, participants were
allowed to choose whether or not they wore earplugs, and only three
chose to wear them.
“Frankly, with such a small comparator group between three subjects
and the others, it would be hard to assess validity of plugs or
not,” said Dr. Jennifer Derebery, president of the Los Angeles
Society of Otolaryngology and lead author of the first study.
“We had trained them all in proper insertion, and encouraged but not
required wearing them,” Derebery told Reuters Health by email.
In the other study, 15 participants were assigned to the earplug
group.
In general, wearing earplugs did reduce hearing loss directly after
the concerts, but did not eliminate it completely, as reported
online March 3 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
“Ear plugs are effective in preventing hearing loss when they are
used both correctly and consistently,” said Colleen G. Le Prell, the
Emilie and Phil Schepps Professor of Hearing Science at the
University of Texas at Dallas, who was not involved in the review.
“This systematic review highlights the very limited data on
prevention of recreational music-induced hearing loss using
earplugs,” Le Prell told Reuters Health by email.
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“At younger ages, loud toys, firecrackers, loud video games,
personal stereos or personal music players, lawnmowers or leaf
blowers, sporting events or air shows, or other non-music events
might be more likely noisy activities than music venue attendance,”
Le Prell said. “A significant number of youth are also involved in
target shooting activities, which children can get involved with
through Boy Scouts or other organizations.”
For teens and young adults, repeat exposures to amplified music at
clubs, concerts, festivals, or other related events may damage the
inner ear and result in hearing loss, she said.
“Most concerts are both loud enough, and long enough, that they are
likely to exceed the total daily exposure allowed by workplace
safety regulations,” she said. “Sound exposure also commonly occurs
via loud music delivered via personal listening devices, at sporting
or other recreational events, and at jobs that involve lawn-mowing,
use of power tools, or construction services.”
For workplace noise exposure, “we are not doing a very good job
achieving correct and consistent use of hearing protection devices (HPD),
including both ear plugs and ear muffs,” she said.
“In the United States, it is relatively uncommon for music venues to
provide ear plugs at no charge,” Le Prell said. Even if they were
provided, people may need to be educated in why using them is
important and in how to use them correctly, she said.
“As a neurotologist, it really is upsetting to see these kids coming
in younger and younger with a completely preventable hearing loss,”
Derebery said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1M3dxg7
JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2016.
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