How some musicians don't get deaf?

[faa2010]

I am 34 years old, and I can barely hear 15 KHz (or in some cases, not anymore). I am not sure if I am in the average, but in some Internet videos or tests, they point that that limit is for older people while people of my age should hear around 15.5 KHz.

I am scared, specially because I am studying to become a profesional musician. But I also read that as a musician I am more exposed to be more deaf than others (and the city is very very noisy, so it is worse).

I think the only thing than is left is to accept the fact that I won't get away of being deaf, but I have seen that there are musicians who don't get deaf, they don't use hearing devices and they can still listen, so how is that possible?

[j_tour]

Well, I don't know any experimental data, but my theory is that constant exposure to sound/music/noise even at low volumes is sufficient to damage the ears.

I did the rock band and the guitar thing for a while, but generally have been pretty protective of my ears.

I'm in my early forties and still have some hearing loss.

How do some some musicians avoid it?

Probably just luck, I guess.

EDITED to add, I haven't found hearing loss, or occasional tinnitus to be much of a problem in music-making.  As long as you can hear something.  IMHO, that would be a problem for people mixing and mastering recordings in the studio, but as a musician?  Meh, I don't find it's a problem:  you know what you're playing, and if you're in an ensemble, there are all kinds of options for getting a feed in your monitor(s).  From all the way just hear it live from the stage and observe visually what's what, to using some custom in-ear monitors, through your own hardware mixer.

[ted]

At the time, the results of this poll disturbed me, but now I think it is possibly representative of the general population and not just pianists.

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=9221.msg244201#msg244201

[outin]

Some hearing loss (especially high frequences) is normal when you age. How much and how soon depends on your genes. This would not bother a pianist too much, only you may not be aware of all the tonal qualities of your playing. But pros of course are already able to play well anyway when they start to reach that age, so it does should not bother them that much.

But if you do not protect your ears you may end up losing more and much earlier and in the worst case develope tinnitus. Orchestral playing is a risk, but banging a piano in a room with bad acoustics or playing with earphones can also be.

Listening to music should only be a problem if it's loud. I have listened to music all my life a lot (every day). My hearing is good for my age. I lost some frequences in one ear already in my teens but that was because of recurring infections. I always had sensitive ears so I have always kept the music on low to moderate volume. Of course listening loud especially with earphones can cause problems. Classical music often has excessive dynamics which can be a problem...