[Hearing protectors in musicians].

The ENT physician and specialist in musician's medicine is consistently confronted with the issue of hearing protection, since musicians exposed to high sound levels due to their profession, and who are often concerned about their hearing, refer to him. Furthermore, this topic has gained more relevance since a noise exposure limit for professional musicians was issued in February 2008 by the EC guidelines for occupational health and safety regarding "Noise" (2003/10/EC). The present article gives an outline of the recent state of knowledge about sound pressure levels, hearing risks, as well as the use of hearing protection for musicians.