Ian O’Brien

MAudSt MPhil BMus(Hons) DipAudEng MAudSA(CCP)

Ian is an audiologist, a principal musician with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (horn), a sound designer and a former sound engineer with a successful pop band.  His ongoing career in the music industry spans twenty years and he has shared the stage with some of the world’s biggest names.  While playing in the orchestra pit in Melbourne’s State Theatre over a decade ago Ian began researching the problem of noise exposure to musicians and has since completed a Masters of Philosophy on the subject and his Masters in Audiology.

Ian is a co-author of a landmark study into the nature of orchestral noise, published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America in 2008*.  He wrote and implemented a groundbreaking hearing conservation strategy for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra – which continues to protect the hearing of its musicians – and has consulted to musicians, music teachers, professional orchestras, music institutions and schools in Australia and New Zealand on their own strategies.

Ian is dedicated to improving the chances of musicians to progress through their career without suffering damage to their hearing and believes that hearing protection – fit properly and used correctly – can enhance a musician’s performances.  He has written and spoken widely on the subject and continues his research as a member of the University of Sydney Medical School’s Sound Practice Project.

*O’Brien, I., Wilson, W., & Bradley, A. (2008). Nature of orchestral noise. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 124 926-939.