Success of Custom Hearing Protection Devices within an Enhanced Hearing Conservation Program aboard a US Navy Warship
Abstract
This report presents hearing sensitivity data from naval personnel working aboard a littoral combat ship, the USS FREEDOM (LCS-1,) in a noisy ship environment who participated in an enhanced hearing-conservation program that issued custom-molded earplugs. Over a period of 5 years, 11 cases of significant threshold shifts (STSs) were recorded in the approximately 80 sailors who had been enrolled in the enhanced hearing conservation program. However, the entire crew had rotated off the ship by Year 4, resulting in less onboard noise exposure. The best estimated incidence of STS is 5% per person-year (95% confidence limits: 2 to 9%). However, temporary and false negative shifts indicate that the incidence of permanent threshold shifts is likely below 3% per person-year. Average shifts from single and multiple frequencies were calculated, with no consistent trends found over time. For comparison, a similar analysis of the crew of a destroyer, the USS STERETT (DDG-104), produced a significantly higher estimated STS incidence of 13% per person-year (95% confidence limits: 9 to 19%).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 10, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1065317
Entities
People
- Heather Huebner
- Jennifer Mccluskey
- Lynne Marshall
- Paul Weathersby
Organizations
- Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory