It's official: wind and percussion instruments in the orchestra will have to play with headphones!
Italian law is very attentive to occupational safety issues; all causes of risk to which employees are subject must be carefully evaluated, including obviously exposure to noise and high sound levels, from which serious pathologies can arise. In the delicate sectors of music and entertainment (it is curious how the two things have been associated), given the criticality of the situations, especially those in which artistic requirements themselves imply high levels of sound exposure, there has been a regulatory vacuum in recent years due to the lack of implementing provisions.
Now, finally, the ministerial guidelines have been published which should dispel any doubt regarding the application of current legislation. Unfortunately, the document (as well as the legislative norms) does not seem to contemplate the specificity of situations in any way, let alone the reality of the facts.
Leaving aside the very approximate data published in the guidelines regarding the exposure of orchestral musicians and relying instead on more considered studies carried out within the ISPESL framework (1), it is discovered that, subject to all verifications for individual cases, brass and percussion are almost certainly obliged to play with headphones, while woodwinds are in a borderline situation (being subject to weekly levels that exceed the upper action value). Violins should get by just barely, while for violas and cellos, which exceed the lower action values, the employer should provide them with headphones, after which it would be up to them to decide whether or not to use them (and in the case of violas, I dare not imagine what the decision might be.).
The floor is yours
(1) "Pilot study of professional exposure to noise and auditory functionality of musicians of a national opera orchestra", P.
Nataletti1, R. Sisto, A. Pieroni, F. Sanjust and D. Annesi Higher Institute for Occupational Prevention and Safety (ISPESL), Department of Occupational Hygiene, Physical Agents Laboratory, Monteporzio Catone (Rome)
