Steve Mosher’s ears take a beating at work: they actually hurt during particularly noisy moments, are ringing by the end of some shifts, and after 20-plus years on the job are now afflicted permanently with tinnitus.

Surprisingly, Mosher plays in the orchestra of the National Ballet, Canada’s premiere classical dance company, and his concerns about long-term hearing loss led to a novel study that has just been published by researchers at the University of Toronto.

Using 10 performances of  Romeo and Juliet — the company’s highest-volume ballet — as their lab, the researchers documented the level of noise exposure experienced by every member of the 70-person ensemble.

The same team conducted a similar study earlier on the Canadian Opera Company orchestra, as the classical music world increasingly turns its attention to a workplace hazard more commonly associated with heavy industry, or at least the kind of music played in hockey arenas, not concert halls.

“It doesn’t matter what the nature of sound is, it is the sheer energy of sound that causes damage,” said Cheng Liang Qian, the doctoral student in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering who led the research. “Just having beautiful music around you all the time doesn’t protect your hearing.”

The University of Toronto team advised the musicians to lessen risk of hearing loss by being extra careful in other aspects of their lives.

Follow the link to read the full article on the National Post website.