Analysis of audiometric notch as a noise-induced hearing loss phenotype in US youth: data from the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005–2010

Abstract

Objective: Bilateral audiometric notch (BN) at 4000–6000 Hz was identified as a noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) phenotype for genetic association analysis in college-aged musicians. This study analysed BN in a sample of US youth. Design: Prevalence of the BN within the study sample was determined and logistic-regression analyses were performed to identify audiologic and other demographic factors associated with BN. Computer-simulated “flat” audiograms were used to estimate potential influence of false-positive rates in estimating the prevalence of the BN. Study sample: 2348 participants (12–19 years) following the inclusion criteria were selected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (2005–2010). Results: The prevalence of BN was 16.6%. Almost 55.6% of the participants showed notch in at least one ear. Noise exposure, gender, ethnicity and age showed significant relationship with the BN. Computer simulation revealed that 5.5% of simulated participants with “flat” audiograms showed BN. Conclusion: Association of noise exposure with BN suggests that it is a useful NIHL phenotype for genetic association analyses. However, further research is necessary to reduce false-positive rates in notch identification.

Keywords:

• Noise
• syndrome/genetics
• behaviour measure
• tinnitus

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Faculty Grant Programme at the Northern Arizona University (2015). We acknowledge the assistance of Viacheslav “Slava” Fofanov for audiogram simulation and Elise Lindstedt for manuscript editing.

Declaration of interest

A declaration of interest statement reporting no conflict has been inserted. Please confirm the statement is accurate. This work is supported by the Faculty Grant Programme at the Northern Arizona University (2015).

Supplementary material available online