Model for Estimating Life-Cycle Costs Associated with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Abstract

This report documents the development of a method for estimating the total economic costs of exposing sailors to high level, steady-state occupational noise. The costs accrue from inclusion of the sailors in the Navy hearing conservation program (HCP) and as a result of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) sustained by the sailor. Calculation of associated economic costs requires a number of estimates and assumptions, which are provided by military audiologists and other practitioners in the Army, Navy and Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). Based on 2004 values, Navy hearing conservation program costs were determined to be $91.25 for an annual audiometric test plus $12.21 for program overhead per sailor, or more if an apparent hearing loss was detected. Specialty referrals and hearing aids for active duty sailors cost an average of $440.03 per sailor annually for this population. The medical and compensation costs of the VA system were more difficult to capture in a simple model.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 10, 2007
Accession Number
ADA461439

Entities

People

  • Felix Z. Sachs
  • Jennifer Tufts
  • Lynne Marshall
  • Paul K. Weathersby

Organizations

  • Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Active Duty
  • Aircraft Carriers
  • Automated Speech Recognition
  • Basic Training
  • Biomedical Research
  • Compensation
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hearing Disorders
  • Hearing Loss
  • Medical Personnel
  • Navy
  • Steady State
  • Training
  • Veterans Health

Readers

  • Auditory Neuroscience/Auditory Physiology.
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Naval Personnel Management