While risks to the hearing of professional musicians were part of several studies in recent years, little attention was paid to the
sound pressure exposure faced by amateur musicians. Thus, around 500,000 amateur musicians in Germany are hardly aware of
the risks of high sound pressure levels during regular rehearsals or concerts. With the aim to raise the awareness of the musicians
to take possible protective measures into account, e.g., use of personal hearing protectors or less loud performances, several
sound immission measurements were carried out during the rehearsals of a non-professionally acting symphonic wind orchestra.
Furthermore, in order to determine potential hearing threshold shifts, audiometric measurements were performed. In addition to
the objective evaluation, the musicians were asked about their personal feelings during the rehearsals, about their knowledge on
possible risks to the hearing and on appropriate protection means.