The Immediate and Long-Term Impact of Military Aircraft Noise on Hearing: A Cross-Sectional Comparison of Fighter Pilots and Ground Staff
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design and Recruitment of Participants
2.2. Ethical Considerations
2.3. Conventional Pure-Tone and Extended High-Frequency Audiometry
2.4. Otoacoustic Emissions
2.5. Noise Measurement and Analysis
2.6. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Characteristics of Participants
3.2. The Recent Hearing Thresholds Were Significantly Higher for Ground Staff Than for Fighter Pilots
3.3. The EHF Audiometry Metric Showed a Statistically Significant Group Difference
3.4. Immediate Noise Impact on Hearing after Accomplishing One Flight Mission
3.5. Analysis of the Noise Level in in the Hardened Aircraft Shelter
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Control Subject (n = 136) | Ground Staff (n = 40) | Fighter Pilot (n = 40) | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sex | <0.002 ** | |||
Male (%) | 130 (95.6) | 31 (77.5) | 35 (87.5) | |
Female (%) | 6 (4.4) | 9 (22.5) | 5 (12.5) | |
Age (Mean ± SD) | 31.6 ± 5.2 | 31.5 ± 7.5 | 29.2 ± 4.6 | 0.051 |
Wearing HPD | 0.806 a 0.675 b | |||
Yes (%) | 125 (91.9) | 38 (95.0) | 36 (92.3) | |
No (%) | 11 (8.1) | 2 (5.0) | 3 (7.7) |
Grouped Frequencies (kHz) | Right Ear | Left Ear | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ground Staff | Fighter Pilot | p-Value | Ground Staff | Fighter Pilot | p-Value | |
Mean ± SEM | Mean ± SEM | Mean ± SEM | Mean ± SEM | |||
3FPTA (0.5, 1, 2) | 10.29 ± 1.30 | 7.54 ± 0.90 | 0.086 | 10.04 ± 2.38 | 7.96 ± 1.42 | 0.159 |
4FPTA (0.5, 1, 2, 4) | 10.56 ± 1.35 | 7.16 ± 0.89 | 0.038 * | 11.00 ± 1.47 | 7.25 ± 0.92 | 0.034 * |
HFPTA (4, 6, 8) | 13.71 ± 2.25 | 7.88 ± 1.18 | 0.025 * | 14.21 ± 2.43 | 8.25 ± 1.06 | 0.029 * |
OFPTA (0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8) | 11.94 ± 1.60 | 7.85 ± 0.93 | 0.030 * | 11.78 ± 1.64 | 8.19 ± 0.89 | 0.055 |
EHFPTA (9, 10, 11.2, 12.5, 14, 16, 18) | 19.36 ± 2.73 | 12.95 ± 1.83 | 0.056 | 17.84 ± 2.61 | 12.47 ± 1.49 | 0.079 |
Frequency (kHz) | Right Ear | Left Ear | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ground Staff | Fighter Pilot | p-Value | Ground Staff | Fighter Pilot | p-Value | |
n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |||
14 | 0 (0.0) | 1 (2.5) | 1.000 a | 0 (0.0) | 1 (2.5) | 1.000 a |
16 | 2 (5.0) | 1 (2.5) | 1.000 a | 4 (10.0) | 1 (2.5) | 0.359 a |
18 | 5 (12.5) | 4 (10.0) | 1.000 a | 8 (20.0) | 3 (7.5) | 0.105 |
9–18 | 5 (12.5) | 4 (10.0) | 1.000 a | 9 (22.5) | 3 (7.5) | 0.060 |
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Kuo, C.-Y.; Hung, C.-L.; Chen, H.-C.; Shih, C.-P.; Lu, R.-H.; Chen, C.-W.; Hung, L.-W.; Lin, Y.-C.; Chen, H.-K.; Chu, D.-M.; et al. The Immediate and Long-Term Impact of Military Aircraft Noise on Hearing: A Cross-Sectional Comparison of Fighter Pilots and Ground Staff. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 2982. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062982
Kuo C-Y, Hung C-L, Chen H-C, Shih C-P, Lu R-H, Chen C-W, Hung L-W, Lin Y-C, Chen H-K, Chu D-M, et al. The Immediate and Long-Term Impact of Military Aircraft Noise on Hearing: A Cross-Sectional Comparison of Fighter Pilots and Ground Staff. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(6):2982. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062982
Chicago/Turabian StyleKuo, Chao-Yin, Chia-Lien Hung, Hsin-Chien Chen, Cheng-Ping Shih, Rou-Huei Lu, Chen-Wai Chen, Li-Wen Hung, Yi-Chun Lin, Hang-Kang Chen, Da-Ming Chu, and et al. 2021. "The Immediate and Long-Term Impact of Military Aircraft Noise on Hearing: A Cross-Sectional Comparison of Fighter Pilots and Ground Staff" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 6: 2982. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062982