Chinese Opera Dulls Musicians’ Hearing
- Share via
PEKING — Chinese opera, with its repeated clanging of cymbals and gongs, is making its musicians deaf, the daily Health News reported Saturday.
Only three of 77 musicians tested in the northeastern city of Changchun had normal hearing, with hearing losses greater among veteran musicians, said the report, also carried by the official New China News Agency.
It said some music from traditional Chinese operas is even louder than Western rock ‘n’ roll. The paper quoted the doctor who took the Changchun survey as recommending that musicians playing cymbals, gongs and drums should sit lower than other musicians, with more space between them.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
