Temporary threshold shift in organists' hearing

Ten organists (6 male, 4 female) aged 23-54 years, 80% of which were asymptomatic for otologic pathology, the exceptions being one flat, moderate sensorineural hearing loss and one moderate, low frequency sensorineural hearing loss, were evaluated with hearing history questionnaire, otoscopic exam, otologic questionnaire and pure tone audiometry. Bone conduction testing verified no conductive hearing loss in any subject. With respect to age and number of years playing, findings indicate normal or better than expected hearing for 50% of the subjects and a pattern of a slight noise notch at 6 k Hz in the other 50%. After audiometric examination each organist played the organ for two hours under identical practice conditions and was retested with puretones to assess temporary threshold shift (TTS) in hearing. There was no significant TTS in any subject when data was statistically analyzed, however TTSs as large as 15 dB were recorded in individual cases. Spectral content of the organ music played in the sessions was found to have a dominant frequency at approximately 500-750 Hz.