Dr. Janet Choi

For this particular study, we did not measure how hard they were exerting, but that's definitely something that we would like to measure in the future, such as their heart rate, their oxygen level.

and whether there is any changes.

But at least for the perceived exertion, we did not find any differences.

Really, the encouraging message is that protecting hearing health doesn't necessarily require sacrificing the workout experiences.

And our findings suggest that fitness facilities may be able to modestly reduce music volume while maintaining the level of the energy and exercise intensity that participants can enjoy.

And even relatively small reductions in sound levels, and we're talking about three decibel here,

can meaningfully reduce the cumulative noise exposure over time.

Yeah, it's also, you know, for our listeners who listen to the music on a regular basis or go to these classes on a regular basis, it's a reminder that recreational noise exposure does matter.

And it's really worth being aware of your listening environment, including the headphones and, you know, AirPods and considering strategies to protect your hearing, which is really just trying to limit the maximum volume that you put it at.

Yeah, I mean, I still go to the same gym.

This study was actually done by one of our research members who was an instructor at this fitness.

And then she really kind of changed how she teaches the class after the study.

Yeah, of course.

Thank you.