NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt University has launched a study aimed at understanding the effects of hearing loss on musicians.
The Tennessean reports that doctoral student Kristen D'Onofrio in Vanderbilt's audiology program is conducting the study. She’s testing Nashville musicians with hearing loss as part of a research project she hopes will spur an entire career studying the issue
D'Onofrio is also a musician who played drums in jazz and rock bands. She says she hopes the research can contribute to improving hearing aid technology and refine hearing aid fittings for the musician population and for those who listen to music.
MusiCares, the nonprofit that helps connect musicians to health care, helped refer musicians to D'Onofrio and hearing aid researcher and professor Todd Ricketts for the Vanderbilt study.