Avaliação auditiva periférica em militares expostos a ruído de impacto comparada a não expostos

Abstract

Impulse noise exposure may rebound negatively on the auditory system, affecting both its peripheral structures and causing extra auditory effects. The aim of this paper is to characterize peripheral hearing of military personnel exposed to impulse noise, comparing them to military personnel without this exposure. A group of 110 militaries were divided into 58 exposed (Study Group) and 52 unexposed (Comparison Group) to impulse noise (shot and/or blast) were assessed through pure tone threshold air conduction audiometry. To data analysis, descriptive measures and inferential analysis were used (t-Student, Mann-Whitney) with a significant level of 0,05 and effect size calculation. Statistical but not clinically significant differences were found for the pure tone thresholds air conduction at the frequencies of 6000Hz for the right ear and of 2000, 3000, 4000 and 6000Hz for the left in the exposed group. However, both groups showed hearing thresholds within normal limits. It was possible to observe that conventional peripheral auditory assessment did not seem to be enough in evaluating militaries exposed to impact noise, then, it’s suggested to include tests that assesses the auditory system central section on these individuals’ evaluation routine, covering hearing disorders not identified by the conventional audiometry.