Middle-Ear Resonance Frequency and Eustachian Tube Function in Players of Wind Instruments

The effect of the continuous forced expiration action of players of wind instruments to produce sound, on the eustachian tube functions and the middle-ear resonance frequency (RF), has not been investigated in the literature to date. The aim of this study is to evaluate eustachian tube functions and the middle-ear RF of players of wind instruments.

In this prospective case-control clinical study, a study group of 28 players of wind instruments in the orchestra (28 participants, 56 ears) and a control group of 34 volunteers (34 participants, 68 ears) were included. The eustachian function of wind instrument players in a symphony orchestra was measured using an automatic eustachian tube function test in acoustic tympanometry and the RF of the middle ear was determined in multifrequency tympanometry.

There was a statistically significant difference among the musicians, especially in players of woodwind instruments, in terms of dysfunction of the eustachian tubes (p = 0.048). In the musicians, the pre- and postperformance RF mean values for all ears were 925 and 1,020 Hz, respectively, and these were significantly different (p = 0.004).

This is the first study to uses multifrequency tympanometry to examine the middle-ear RF and eustachian tube function of wind instrument musicians in an orchestra. Eustachian tube dysfunction was found to be more prominent and a higher RF of the middle ear was seen after a performance, especially in players of wood wind instruments. However, the effect of these on the professional performance of players of wind instruments should be investigated in future work.