Population-based age adjustment tables for use in occupational hearing conservation programs.
Gregory A Flamme, Kristy K Deiters, Mark R Stephenson and 8 others
PMID 31846396WHAT IT FOUND
Current occupational hearing age-adjustment tables overestimate age-related hearing decline.
Newer population-based tables matched later hearing changes in workers better and extended beyond the old age limit.
Key findings
01The NIOSH age adjustment tables overestimate the age-related changes observed in contemporary cross-sectional trends.
02The new 25th percentile cross-sectional trends closely matched median longitudinal hearing changes among male firefighters and EMS workers, with differences 5 dB or less.
03The fitted curves differed from the NIOSH tables and varied by age, gender, self-reported race/ethnicity, and self-reported occupational noise exposure.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The tables were built from cross-sectional NHANES data, so they may include birth-cohort effects that can change quickly and may need periodic updates. The validation group was only men, mostly non-Hispanic White, and exposed to occupational noise and other ototoxins, so the tables may still overestimate pure age effects and do not represent women or all race/ethnicity groups well. Using separate tables requires knowing gender and race/ethnicity, and the paper notes that women's tables may not be appropriate for transgender or gender non-conforming people. The tables are not regulatory-compliant unless agencies adopt them, and NIOSH still recommends against age correction for individual audiograms. The original NIOSH tables came from a small sample and were not validated with longitudinal data.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata lists U.S. government and P.H.S. research support; the article text does not report author conflicts of interest or a funding declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these tables as approved regulatory age corrections. The paper states that compliance use would require adoption by regulatory agencies, and NIOSH continues to recommend against age correction.