Musicians’ noise exposure in orchestra pit

Sound exposures of Canadian Opera Company orchestra players were measured to assess the risk of hearing loss of players in orchestra pits. This was done during 18 sessions that included rehearsals, dress rehearsals and actual performances of two operas. Seventy-three noise exposures of musicians were measured using five dosimeters for the entire duration (3 h) of each event. The measured estimate, L eq, from which the L ex was calculated using the numbers of hours per year played by the musicians of the Canadian Opera Company. Following the ISO 1999 Standard, results indicate that, playing for the company does not pose risk of hearing loss for the players.