Early noise-induced hearing loss in teenage boys.
A hearing examination of 538 teenage boys in vocational school classes--implying future on-the-job noise exposure--showed a hearing loss (greater than 20 dB HL at any frequency) in 15% of the cases. Few correlations could be demonstrated between hearing loss and specific leisure time activities. There was, however, a correlation between high frequency hearing loss in the left ear and hereditary hearing loss. The most affected frequency was 6 kHz, suggesting a noise etiology--a suggestion emphasized by the noisy hobbies of these teenagers. It cannot be excluded that a hereditary deficiency could either manifest itself as a localized dip at 6 kHz or reveal itself as an increased vulnerability to noise, identified at young age as a high frequency dip at 6 kHz.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D006316:Hearing Loss, High-Frequency / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D014829:Vocational Education