(BQ) Part 2 book “Clinical assessment of voice” has contents: Endocrine function, respiratory dysfunction, laryngeal papilloma, spasmodic dysphonia, vocal fold paresis and paralysis, voice impairment, disability, handicap, and medical-legal evaluation, and other contents. | 15 Hearing Loss in Singers and Other Musicians Robert Thayer Sataloff, Joseph Sataloff, and Brian McGovern Singers and other musicians depend on good hearing to match pitch, monitor vocal quality, and provide feedback and direction for adjustments during performance. The importance of good hearing among performing artists has been underappreciated. Although well-trained musicians are usually careful to protect their voices or hands, they may subject their ears to unnecessary damage and thereby threaten their musical careers. The ear is a critical part of the musician’s “instrument.” Consequently, it is important for singers to understand how the ear works, how to take care of it, what can go wrong with it, and how to avoid hearing loss from preventable injury. Causes of Hearing Loss The classification and causes of hearing loss have been described in detail in standard textbooks of otolaryngology and previous works by the authors,1,2 and they will be reviewed only briefly in this chapter. Hearing loss may be hereditary or nonhereditary, and either form may be congenital (present at birth) or acquired. There is a common misconception that hereditary hearing loss implies the presence of the problem at birth or during childhood. In fact, most hereditary hearing loss occurs later in life. All otolaryngologists know families whose members begin to lose their hearing in their third, fourth, or fifth decade, for example. Otosclerosis, a common cause of correctable hearing loss, often presents when people are in their 20s or 30s. Similarly, the presence of deafness at birth does not necessarily imply hereditary or genetic factors. A child whose mother had rubella during the first trimester of pregnancy or was exposed to radiation early in pregnancy may be born with a hearing loss. This is not of genetic etiology and has no predictive value for the hearing of the child’s siblings or future children. Hearing loss may occur because of problems in any portion of the .
