Close to six million American teenagers have some form of hearing loss, which has increased by a third over the past two decades. Marching band contributes to this issue, as instrument noise levels regularly exceed 85 dB, the threshold for potential hearing damage. A drumline rehearsal exposed students to 99 dB over 30 minutes. Rehearsals indoors are particularly dangerous if volume is not reduced. Protecting hearing requires musicians' earplugs, shorter rehearsal sessions, and awareness of lowering volume indoors. A collaborative effort between students, leaders, and parents is needed.

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Staying Safe: What All Marching Band Members Must
Know about the Potential for Hearing Loss
Close to six million American teenagers have some variety of hearing loss, which
represents an increase of approximately a third over the past 2 decades. While experts
claim that this hearing loss is in part caused by regular exposure to high volumes of music
from portable players and phones, taking part in marching band is yet another contributing
cause. As nearly every city high school and college has a marching band, band
membership is a very common activity among teens.
Teenagers and loud sounds. Noise levels are
measured in decibels, also written as dB.
Sounds greater than 85 dB can lead to hearing
loss in both adults and children. 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. What can be even
more damaging than playing those instruments
on the field is playing indoors for rehearsals.
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. Bandleaders and participants also need to be aware of how important it is to
lower the volume of their instruments when practicing indoors. To best protect the hearing

2.
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of marching band members, a joint effort between students, bandleaders, and parents is
recommended.