Functional Impairment in Service Members with Normal Audiometric Thresholds
Abstract
Military service is more hazardous to hearing than almost any other occupation, and both the line and medical components of the Department of Defense (DoD) have a responsibility to protect Service Members from the harmful effects of noise exposure. Despite the best efforts of a comprehensive DoD-wide hearing conservation program, hearing loss and tinnitus continue to be the most frequent permanent injuries in the military; nearly 30 percent of service members experience a permanent threshold shift and just over 30 percent report tinnitus. These problems propagate to our veteran population, resulting in almost 1.5 million veterans receiving compensation for hearing loss and tinnitus. Of further concern is the increasing incidence of Service Members reporting hearing difficulty and/or tinnitus in the presence of normal hearing. These factors could have a significant impact on readiness and resilience in the Active-Duty population. The goal of this research effort is to advance our understanding of the etiology and implications of noise- and blast related hearing damage in our Active-Duty population with normal or near-normal audiograms, and obtain normative data for tests that could be used to efficiently assess these problems in DoD Audiology Clinics. This will be accomplished by three studies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1190660
Entities
People
- Colleen Leprell
- Douglas S. Brungart
- Jaclyn Schurman
Organizations
- Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine