The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of wearing earplugs on classical musicians’ pitch perception across three experimental conditions: no earplugs, foam earplugs, and Etymotic earplugs. Participants were graduate and undergraduate music majors attending a large school of music in the southeastern United States (N = 72). Participants adjusted the pitch of five complex stimulus tones (C#4, C#5, C#3, G#4, and F#3) using a continuous response digital interface until they believed the interval was in tune with an oboe (C#4) reference tone. Participants tended to tune flat when the stimulus tone was presented flat and to tune sharp when it was presented sharp across all three earplug conditions. Overall cent deviation in tuning responses showed that in both directional and absolute deviation analyses, listeners were most accurate when tuning without earplugs, then when using Etymotic earplugs, and least accurate with foam earplugs. Significant differences, however, were limited to specific intervals and in magnitudes not likely to be perceived. Although more research is needed, the use of Etymotic earplugs may provide valuable protection against noise-induced hearing loss with negligible effects on pitch perception. Implications for musicians and recommendations for future research are discussed.

这项研究的目的是研究在三种实验条件下佩戴耳塞对古典音乐家的音高感知的影响：无耳塞，泡沫耳塞和Etymotic耳塞。参加者是在美国东南部（N= 72）。参与者使用连续响应数字接口调整了五个复杂刺激音（C＃4，C＃5，C＃3，G＃4和F＃3）的音调，直到他们相信音调与双簧管一致（C ＃4）参考音。在所有三种耳塞情况下，当激励音调平坦时，参与者倾向于调平；当激励音调呈现锐利时，参与者倾向于调尖。调音响应中的总体分偏差表明，在方向性偏差分析和绝对偏差分析中，收听者在不使用耳塞进行调音时最准确，然后在使用Etymotic耳塞进行调音时最为准确，而使用泡沫耳塞的准确度最低。但是，明显的差异仅限于特定的时间间隔，并且幅度不大。尽管需要更多的研究，使用Etymotic耳塞可为防止噪音引起的听力损失提供有价值的保护，并且对音调感知的影响可忽略不计。讨论了对音乐家的影响以及对未来研究的建议。