Marching Band Can Be Hazardous to Your Ears

Close to 6 million U.S. teenagers have some form of hearing loss, which signifies an increase of about a third over the past twenty years. While experts claim that this hearing loss is in part caused by regular exposure to high volumes of music from portable players and phones, participation in marching band is yet another contributing cause. As nearly every city high school and college has a marching band, band membership is a quite common activity among teens.

Harmful sound levels for teenagers.Volume, or noise level, is measured in decibels (dB). Adults and children can suffer hearing loss from exposure to noises in excess of 85 dB. Marching band includes a variety of instruments, some of which easily cross over that threshold during rehearsals and performances. An experiment at Duke University showed that a drumline rehearsal exposed students to decibel levels of 99 over a 30-minute period. However, playing those instruments indoors for rehearsals can be even more harmful to teens’ hearing. Unfortunately, many youths don’t reduce the volume of their instruments when playing inside.

Prevention and protection strategies. An effective solution for reducing sound levels is the use of musicians earplugs. These professional earplugs are designed to fit perfectly in the teen’s ears. However, parents often find them to be expensive. Another effective strategy for protecting young people’s hearing is to reduce the length of time they are exposed to potentially harmful sound levels by breaking up the rehearsals into shorter sessions. Increased awareness among teens and band leaders of the importance of reducing instrument sound levels when playing indoors is also key. To best protect the hearing of marching band members, a joint effort between students, band leaders, and parents is recommended.