The presbycusis component in occupational hearing loss

Abstract

In the evaluation of suspected occupational hearing losses, an expanding part of current otologic practice, the otologist is expected to differentiate noise sequelae from other types of ear pathology and to estimate the extent to which each abnormality contributes to the total hearing disability. The audiometric identification of acoustic trauma is possible only in early cases. When the noise effects are more advanced and when they are combined with aging, the pure tone curves are nonspecific. The standard battery of audiologic tests does not help in the quantitative separation of acoustic trauma from presbycusis. Most authorities consider that when acoustic trauma and presbycusis are concomitant, the effects of each are independent and that the influences of each upon auditory acuity are simply additive. There are significant individual differences in susceptibility to acoustic trauma and in the degree of hearing deterioration which occurs with aging. While it is not yet possible to make retrospective determinations of these variances, it is feasible to make age corrections of noise‐induced hypoacusis if one averages acoustic vulnerability and aging effects. Such averaging results in some inequalities in individual cases, but the validity of this approach in large numbers of cases is justifiable because of the absence of alternatives. The authors have modified the prebycusic data of Spoor (which combine several important hearing surveys conducted in the United States and in western Europe) by changing the calibration from ASA‐1954 to ANSI‐1969 and have prepared curves which demonstrate mean aggregate hearing levels at specified frequencies according to age and sex. Two formulae for age correction are presented along with examples of each formula and the authors' evaluation.

Ear Involvement in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…Although both groups with SNHL were affected at high frequencies, the patient group with SNHL was younger than the control group with SNHL (mean 62.0 years versus 68.0 years) and was affected at 1,000 Hz and 2,000 Hz. Although we could not rule out the effect of aging as described above, the hearing threshold at 1,000 Hz and 2,000 Hz in patients with RA was higher than that of the same sex and age group in the published normative data (26). We also observed a relation between SNHL and ESR in patients with RA patients.…”

The Effect of Age and Type of Noise on Speech Perception under Conditions of Changing Context and Noise Levels

“…The literature suggests that older adults use more context cues than younger ones [15,16,17], but most of these studies used sentences as the target stimulus [26,34,35]. In the current study, we were interested to see whether the pattern that older adults use more contextual cues than younger ones also applies when speech perception is measured at the word level.…”

“…All participants were screened for age-normal hearing at 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 Hz, according to Lebo and Redell [26]. Six additional older adults were recruited but failed the screening, and were therefore excluded from the study.…”

Issues for the Assessment of Visuospatial Skills in Older Adults Using Virtual Environment Technology

“…17 Hearing loss, especially for high-frequency tones, increases as people age and is more severe in older men than women. 23 In general, older people are susceptible to masking. That is, they have great difficulty hearing normal speech when there is substantial background noise.…”