The Immediate and Long-Term Impact of Military Aircraft Noise on Hearing: A Cross-Sectional Comparison of Fighter Pilots and Ground Staff

Chao-Yin Kuo, Chia-Lien Hung, Hsin-Chien Chen, Cheng-Ping Shih, Rou-Huei Lu, Chen-Wai Chen, Li-Wen Hung, Yi-Chun Lin, Hang-Kang Chen, Da-Ming Chu, Yuan-Yung Lin, Yueh-Chun Chen and Chih-Hung Wang
Additional contact information
Chao-Yin Kuo: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Chia-Lien Hung: Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taichung 41168, Taiwan
Hsin-Chien Chen: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Cheng-Ping Shih: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Rou-Huei Lu: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Chen-Wai Chen: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Li-Wen Hung: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Yi-Chun Lin: Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Hang-Kang Chen: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Da-Ming Chu: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Yuan-Yung Lin: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Yueh-Chun Chen: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Chih-Hung Wang: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: We examined the immediate and long-term impacts of military aircraft noise exposure on noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in fighter pilots and ground staff. We recruited 40 pilots, 40 ground staff, and 136 age-matched controls; all participants underwent hearing tests, including conventional pure-tone audiometry (PTA) (0.25–8.0 kHz), extended high-frequency (EHF) audiometry (9.0–18.0 kHz), and distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) as a recent reference. A subsequent hearing test immediately after flight-mission noise exposure was requested. The results revealed higher recent hearing thresholds in pilots and ground staff than in controls. Threshold shifts at many octave band frequencies were also significantly elevated in ground staff. The grouped frequency threshold was significantly elevated in the 4–8 kHz high-frequency range. After a single flight-mission noise exposure, both ground staff and pilots showed decreased signal-to-noise ratios for DPOAE (1–8 kHz), whereas only ground staff showed significantly elevated left-ear hearing thresholds at 3, 11.2, and 12.5 kHz by conventional and EHF PTA. Fighter pilots and ground staff serve in hazardous noise-exposed environments that cause hearing damage and subsequent NIHL, but ground staff may be more vulnerable. A comprehensive hearing conservation program should be implemented to protect high-risk service members, and especially ground staff, from high-intensity noise exposure.

Keywords: military noise; noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL); fighter aircraft; pilot; ground staff; pure-tone audiometry (PTA); extended high-frequency (EHF) audiometry; distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs); signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2982/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2982/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:6:p:2982-:d:516762

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().