The Start of Noisy Truth

This is Kaitlyn and Khaos, the two voices behind dBlog (decibel, blog, haha, get it?). We met in middle school through our school orchestra, where we both played the violin. Khaos continued in orchestra throughout high school, while I returned to piano full-time as the jazz pianist in our school’s jazz band. I’ve been studying classical piano competitively for nearly 10 years, and it's remained a central part of my musical life. Each with our own instruments and experiences, we both arrived at a similar realization last summer: Is Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) common in musicians? This passing thought grew to a shared motivation for us to explore how musicianship, particularly classical musicianship, might impact hearing. Thinking back, the last time I had a hearing test was back in elementary school. I'd never considered that hearing loss could affect younger people, let alone those of us who engage with music every day. Well, after doing some digging ourselves, we realized that was a misconception, and it's one many people might never question unless someone brings it to light. Hearing is one of our five senses, yet it seems to be the most underappreciated one. We are currently amidst the research process, with some public outreach efforts underway both locally and internationally (see our work below!). Through dBlog, we hope to keep you all updated on our efforts to research and raise awareness about NIHL.