Population-Based Age Adjustment Tables for Use in Occupational Hearing Conservation Programs

Details

• Personal Author:
  Byrne, David C. ; Cone, James E. ; Deiters KK ; Flamme, Gregory A. ; Goldfarb DG ; Hall C ; Murphy, William J. ; Prezant DJ ; Stephenson, Mark R. ; Themann, Christa L. ; Zeig-Owens R
• Description:
  Objective: In occupational hearing conservation programmes, age adjustments may be used to subtract expected age effects. Adjustments used in the U.S. came from a small dataset and overlooked important demographic factors, ages, and stimulus frequencies. The present study derived a set of population-based age adjustment tables and validated them using a database of exposed workers. Design: Cross-sectional population-based study and retrospective longitudinal cohort study for validation. Study sample: Data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (unweighted n=9937) were used to produce these tables. Male firefighters and emergency medical service workers (76,195 audiograms) were used for validation. Results: Cross-sectional trends implied less change with age than assumed in current U.S. regulations. Different trends were observed among people identifying with non-Hispanic Black race/ethnicity. Four age adjustment tables (age range: 18-85) were developed (women or men; non-Hispanic Black or other race/ethnicity). Validation outcomes showed that the population-based tables matched median longitudinal changes in hearing sensitivity well. Conclusions: These population-based tables provide a suitable replacement for those implemented in current U.S. regulations. These tables address a broader range of worker ages, account for differences in hearing sensitivity across race/ethnicity categories, and have been validated for men using longitudinal data. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Epidemiology Hearing Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Age Groups Aging Aging, Noise Exposure Audiological Testing Author Keywords: Hearing Conservation/Hearing Loss Prevention Demographics/Epidemiology Hearing Conservation Noise
• ISSN:
  1499-2027
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; Ohio ; Oregon ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  59
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058226
• Citation:
  Int J Audiol 2020 Jan; 59(Suppl 1):S20-S30
• Contact Point Address:
  Gregory A. Flamme, Stephenson and Stephenson Research and Consulting, 2264 Heather Way, Forest Grove, OR 97116
• Email:
  gflamme@sasrac.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Audiology
• Supplement:
  1
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c6c15b847cedafe0511ada7ef2f6e81a7f6629944b40ea4ae88d77538842ba85516c4204a4266abcfbfc4894a0b2f31a0deecba9171e50d442d89d1d87a45506
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221358/cdc_221358_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.81 MB ]