• Karen S Thomas, Raychl Smith, Sandra Teglas, and Donald A Hodges.
• School of Music, University of Utah, 1375 East Presidents Circle, 204 David P. Gardner Hall, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. Tel 801-581-6762. karen.s.thomas@utah.edu.
• Med Probl Perform Art. 2020 Dec 1; 35 (4): 188-195.

BackgroundDoes wearing musicians' earplugs while performing affect the quality of the performance? Can listeners perceive a difference in sound when musicians are performing with or without earplugs? The risk of hearing loss is a concern for musicians, but some are reluctant to wear hearing protection due to factors such as an inability to hear their own instrument properly and the possibility of decreased sound quality for listeners.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to determine the effect of musicians' earplugs on instrumental pitch accuracy and the perception of tone quality, intonation, and dynamic contrast, as perceived by musicians and listeners.MethodsTen university studio faculty teachers were recorded performing single pitches and lyrical and technical passages, first without earplugs and then immediately after with earplugs. A sample of 8 studio faculty teachers and 88 undergraduate music education students completed a researcher-created music perception test of tone quality, intonation, and dynamic contrast.ResultsObjective analyses of the single pitch recordings made by faculty with and without earplugs indicate that pitch accuracy did not favor either condition consistently. Results from the perception test indicate that although both faculty and student listeners perceived some differences, the most frequent perception was that the audio pair was equal, and there was no clear difference between performing with and without earplugs in terms of tone quality, intonation, or dynamic contrast.ConclusionThese findings suggest that musicians should feel confident that wearing musicians' earplugs while performing does not adversely affect pitch accuracy or listeners' perceptions of their timbre and dynamic control.

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