Impact of listening to music while wearing a ski helmet on sound source localization

Abstract

Objectives: In recreational skiing and snowboarding, listening to music may be associated with an increased injury risk due to impaired sound localization. Thus, we evaluated effects of listening to music at different sound levels on sound source localization while wearing a ski helmet.

Design: within-subjects design.

Method: Sound source localization of 20 participants (50% females; age: 23.8±2.4years) was assessed in an anechoic chamber under six conditions: (1) head bare, (2) wearing a ski helmet, (3) wearing a ski helmet and insert ear phones, and (4-6) the latter and listening to music at 3 different sound levels of 45, 55, and 65dB sound pressure level (SPL), respectively.

Results: One-way repeated measures ANOVA show that the percentage of correct sound localization was significantly affected by various conditions: F (5, 95)=138.2, p<.001 (ƞ²=0.88). Compared to the situation "head bare" with a correct score of 88%, increasing music sound levels of 45, 55 and 65dB SPL significantly decreased the ability to correctly localize the sound source to 54%, 45% and 37% correct scores, respectively. Also, angular errors [F (5, 95)=31.0, p<.001, ƞ²=0.62] and front rear confusion [F (2.8, 53.4)=57.9, p<.001, ƞ²=0.75] were significantly affected by wearing a ski helmet and listening to music simultaneously.

Conclusions: Listening to music while wearing a ski helmet impacts negatively on sound source localization. The extent of worsening strongly depends on the sound level.

Keywords: Alpine skiing; Hearing thresholds; Ski helmet; Skiing injuries; Skiing safety; Sound source localization.