Statistical Evaluation of Hearing Losses in Military Pilots (2nd Report)

Abstract

The dependance of the evolution of the hearing loss of military pilots on age and a measurable amount of flight noise exposure can be represented as a function calculated by the technique called regression. A certain number of subjects from a larger test group manifests a hearing loss which exceeds the calculated norms to a highly significant degree. Most of these pilots have undergone an additional noise exposure which explains the deviation from the standard group. These findings support the assumption that in addition to the direct or indirect consequences of ageing, daily noise exposure tends to contribute to the development of presbyacusis resulting in an extraordinarily rapid increase of hearing loss in comparison with age.