An exploratory study of the effects of disco music on the auditory and vestibular systems

The records were examined of 575 university students given audiometry and queried on their attendance at discos and on certain symptoms (vertigo, tinnitus, headache, nausea, otalgia) often associated with the Tullio effect. Of these, 365 Ss had attended discos (local discos were at 123-126 dBC), 128 had binaural greater than or equal to 25 db HTLs at 4 and/or 6 kc/s, and 82 had Tullio symptoms, while 44 had both audiometric loss and Tullio symptoms. This exploratory retrospective survey seemed to show that disco-going adversely affected both auditory and vestibular mechanisms in some Ss. Suggestions were given for the direction future research might well take.