Tinnitus among airline pilots: prevalence and effects of age, flight experience, and other noise.
BACKGROUND
Frequent or constant tinnitus can be a problem for pilots because it can be distracting and/or interfere with communications in the cockpit. We studied tinnitus in a population of airline pilots to determine its prevalence and identify predictors.


METHODS
A total of 418 male and 42 female pilots on duty in a Swedish airline returned a completed tinnitus questionnaire (response rate 79%). Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed; variables retained in the model included age, smoking, exposure to loud impulse noise during leisure time, previous work as a military pilot, years of employment as a commercial pilot, and type of aircraft. When available, the pilots' most recent routine audiometric test (N = 388) was used to study the association between hearing impairment and tinnitus.


RESULTS
A total of 40% of respondents had experienced tinnitus for more than 5 min during the past year, 18% reported constant or severe tinnitus, and 12% had at some time visited a doctor for problems related to tinnitus. There were associations between tinnitus and age, impulse noise, and hearing impairment at 3, 4, and 6 kHz. There was no association with aircraft type or work as a military pilot. Pilots with tinnitus were more likely to report themselves disturbed by noise in the cockpit.


CONCLUSIONS
These results show that tinnitus is relatively common among pilots and can create problems with sensitivity to noise. The frequency of tinnitus is most closely related to age, gender, exposure to high impulse noise during leisure time, and hearing impairment.
Lindgren
Torsten
T
Medical Sciences/Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Uppsala University Hospital, SE-75185 Uppsala, Sweden. torsten.lindgren@medsci.uu.se
Wieslander
Gunilla
G
Dammström
Bo-Göran
BG
Norbäck
Dan
D
D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007899:Leisure Activities; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000453:epidemiology*