title: Comparison of nondeployable hearing profiles by Army component (Active Duty, National Guard, and Reserve) and by gender.
abstract: The Hearing Conservation Service at Fort Bliss conducted baseline-hearing assessments from January 2003 to March 2005 on 14,974 soldiers in the Active Duty (AD), National Guard (NG), and Reserve Component (RC). The percentages of soldiers with >H-2 (i.e., nondeployable) hearing profiles based on Army component and gender are as follows: AD male = 2.21%; AD female = 0.65%; NG male = 5.05%; NG female = 1.64%; RC male = 5.02%; and RC female = 0.54%. Female soldiers in all three components and AD male soldiers are not significantly different (p < 0.05) from each other and have a significantly lower percentage of >H-2 hearing profiles than NG and RC male soldiers after adjusting for age. With the Army engaged in worldwide missions, these results should prove useful to commanders and medical officers for assessing deployment capabilities and for hearing conservation interventions.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston, El Paso, TX 79902, USA.
authors.forename: Shawn G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Gibbs
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sobieraj
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Heath
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Steele
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Tarwater
authors.forename: Melchor
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ortiz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001299:Audiometry; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006772:Hospitals, Military; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011315:Preventive Medicine; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology