Occupationally Acquired Hearing Loss Among Civilian and Active Duty Firefighters
Abstract
Fire fighters are routinely exposed to hazardous noise in excess of Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) recommendations. A study by Reischl (1979) demonstrated that fire fighters are routinely exposed to impulse noises in excess of 115 dBA, and the 8-hour Time Weighted Averages (TWA) were in excess of OSHA recommendations. Tubbs (1991) demonstrated that the average fire fighter exhibited a characteristic noise-induced permanent threshold shift (PTS) that was related to length of service as a fire fighter. One might argue that much of this data is 30 years old, but Tubbs (1995) speculates that the modem mechanized equipment and machinery are getting louder, not softer. There have been numerous studies involving fire-fighters since the early 1980's that have looked at age, length of service, gender, prior military service, and location of the fire station. Tubbs (1991) looked at fire fighters assigned to an airport fire station. While he did find that length of service was predictive of higher loss, he found no significant relationship between higher loss and assignment at the airport fire station. There are no published data that evaluate a military fire station, specifically an Air Force Base where the fire station is located adjacent to the runway and flying operations continuous 24 hours a day. A unique aspect of the military environment is the presence of civilian federal employed fire fighters who work alongside military active duty fire fighters. There are no data looking at differences in PTS between the civilian and the military fire fighters.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 25, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA403154
Entities
People
- Alden D. Hilton
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology