Professional and recreational musicians face a higher risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) due to sustained exposure to loud sound levels. To better define this risk, a systematic review and meta-analysis characterized and quantified the prevalence of NIHL and related auditory symptoms among musicians (mean age, 34.7 years). The analysis included 67 studies from 21 countries, representing more than 3.4 million participants, including 28,311 musicians. Compared with non-musicians, musicians showed a significantly higher prevalence of tinnitus (42.6% vs 13.2%), hearing loss (25.7% vs 11.6%), and hyperacusis (37.3% vs 15.3%).
Among musicians reporting tinnitus, 15.6% described it as permanent, while 76.3% experienced it occasionally. For hearing loss, 36.5% of cases were confirmed using objective measures, whereas 63.5% were based on self-report. Importantly, no significant…
