Relationship Between Subjective Reports of Temporary Threshold Shift and the Prevalence of Hearing Problems in Military Personnel.
Douglas S Brungart, Mary E Barrett, Jaclyn Schurman and 4 others
PMID 31524086WHAT IT FOUND
Service members who reported temporary muffled hearing after loud noise were more likely to report tinnitus and everyday hearing difficulties.
These reports were more closely linked with hearing problems than reported exposure to continuous, firearm, or heavy weapon noise.
Key findings
01Self-reported frequency and duration of temporary hearing changes were the strongest predictors of tinnitus and everyday hearing difficulty.
02Continuous noise exposure was the strongest predictor of self-reported temporary hearing changes, with close blast exposure the next strongest.
03Among service members with hearing loss, those who reported frequent temporary hearing changes had flatter audiograms than those without such reports.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was a survey, so it cannot show that temporary hearing changes later caused hearing problems. Noise exposure was estimated from questions, not dosimeters, and the authors said the noise questions were rudimentary because of time limits. People who notice hearing changes more may also report more hearing difficulty, which could partly explain the link. The sample was mostly male military personnel with, on average, good hearing, so it may not apply to civilians, older adults, or people with severe hearing loss. Some hearing protection answers were filled in with an average value for participants who reported no noise exposure.
Declared interests
Funding was from the U.S. Department of Defense. The supplied text does not report other conflicts of interest or author disclosures.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that temporary hearing changes cause permanent hearing damage. This was a survey of existing reports and hearing tests, so it shows associations, not cause and effect.