Goel Akansha, Joshi Eeshan, Kwee-Bintoro Ted, Gopal Kamakshi V, Chesky Kris, Champlin Sara, Albert Mark V
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas.
Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas.
J Am Acad Audiol. 2024 Oct;35(9-10):217-225. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-1791210. Epub 2024 Dec 19.
Music-induced hearing loss (MIHL) is a critical public health issue. During music instruction, students and teachers are at risk of developing hearing loss due to exposure to loud and unsafe sound levels that can exceed 100 dBA. Prevention of MIHL in music students must be a desired action of all music educators.
To promote deliberate changes in music instruction and encourage more moderate sound creation and exposure during music education, it is essential to equip the instructors with live dynamic tools to monitor the overall sound intensities during music instruction. Equally important data to convey to the instructors are information regarding the intensity and duration of sounds at specific frequency regions in the music they are generating. Unfortunately, there are no feasible techniques to track cumulative live music exposures at various frequencies nor are there any guidelines for safe music exposure.
We created a visually appealing, user-friendly dashboard prototype system to display the accumulated time and intensity of sound exposure during live classes/rehearsals categorized into three frequency ranges. These visuals can be easily understood at a glance allowing musicians and instructors to make informed decisions about how to play music safely.
The dashboard included a collection of circular dial graphs that displayed in real time the accumulated sound exposure in the instructor's selected frequency range and showed the percentage of the maximum daily sound exposure based on the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Standards (NIOSH, 1998). Although NIOSH standards are not widely applied for music exposure, we propose that these standards can be used to provide initial guidelines to develop critical levels of music exposure. Additionally, the dashboard included a color-coded equalizer that displayed the instantaneous frequency distribution of sounds to indicate if sound levels at specific frequencies were too high even for short-term exposure.
Less expensive than existing technology and more convenient to use, this dashboard will enable music instructors to make informed decisions on how to best adapt their teaching approaches to protect the hearing health of their students.
音乐性听力损失（MIHL）是一个关键的公共卫生问题。在音乐教学过程中，学生和教师由于暴露于超过100分贝A的响亮且不安全的声音水平而有患听力损失的风险。预防音乐专业学生的音乐性听力损失必须是所有音乐教育工作者期望采取的行动。
为了促进音乐教学中的有意改变，并鼓励在音乐教育过程中进行更适度的声音创作和接触，至关重要的是为教师配备实时动态工具，以监测音乐教学过程中的总体声音强度。同样重要的是要向教师传达有关他们所创作音乐中特定频率区域声音的强度和持续时间的信息。不幸的是，目前没有可行的技术来跟踪不同频率下累积的现场音乐接触情况，也没有安全音乐接触的指导方针。
我们创建了一个视觉上吸引人、用户友好的仪表板原型系统，以显示现场课程/排练期间分为三个频率范围的声音接触累积时间和强度。这些可视化内容一目了然，便于音乐家和教师就如何安全地演奏音乐做出明智的决定。
该仪表板包括一组圆形刻度盘图表，实时显示教师所选频率范围内的累积声音接触情况，并根据美国国家职业安全与健康研究所标准（NIOSH，1998）显示每日最大声音接触的百分比。尽管NIOSH标准并未广泛应用于音乐接触，但我们建议这些标准可用于提供初步指导方针，以制定关键的音乐接触水平。此外，仪表板还包括一个彩色编码的均衡器，显示声音的瞬时频率分布，以表明即使是短期接触，特定频率的声音水平是否过高。
该仪表板比现有技术成本更低且使用更方便，将使音乐教师能够就是否以及如何最好地调整教学方法以保护学生的听力健康做出明智的决定。
