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Musicians are being advised to wear earplugs
because of the risk of damaging their hearing from
the loud blasts produced by a modern symphony
orchestra.
A Sound Ear, described as the
most extensive survey of its kind, says that:
- 86% of players find loud noise interferes
with their playing
- 79% experience pain
in performing Tchaivkovsky's 1812 Overture or
Verdi's Requiem.
- 40% of musicians have Tinnitus, with woodwind
players the most common sufferers.
Libby MacNamara, director of
the ABO, the professional body for the Nations
Orchestras, said: "One of the most exhilarating
experiences is to hear a symphony orchestra
playing an exciting repertoire. The last thing we
might think about is the physical volume level of
what is going on, and the fact that it might be
harmful to the very people who are generating the
sound."
Alison Wright Reid, an occupational health
and safety specialist, believes that the situation
is so serious that players of brass, woodwind and
percussion instruments should wear earplugs because they are
often up against the loud timpani and brass.
At
140 decibels the ear starts to suffer irreversible
damage, she said. "The pain threshold varies.
It's generally around 120. The sharp belts that the
brass can kick out have been recorded at
127."
John Wallace,
the virtuoso trumpeter, remarked that after a performance of Walton's
Belshazar's Feast, the sound of the timpani had
his ears "ringing for days". He recalled
the bassoonists asking fellow brass players "to
play down as it was excruciatingly painful for
them."
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