Risk factors for hearing loss in naval military personnel: a review

Abstract Introduction: military personnel are exposed to noise in most of their professional activities. Objective: to identify risk factors and describe hearing damage related to noise exposure in naval military activities. Methods: literature review in Scopus, Web of Science and SciELO bibliographic bases. We searched original articles published from 2007 to 2017. The studies were classified according to the methodological quality Cochrane Collaboration criteria. Results: out of 47 studies, seven met the inclusion criteria. The selected articles showed that the naval military personnel’s hearing health can be affected by military activities. The studies confirmed that hearing loss cases increase according to the length of time spent in military and post-operative activities, both in combat and on board of ships. The hearing loss prevalence increases with age and time of exposure, and is featured according to the type of noise. It is more frequent among white men and reaches predominantly the hearing high frequencies, being of sensorial-neural type. Conclusion: the vulnerability of this group reinforces the need for implementing hearing conservation programs within military organizations in order to monitor and develop preventive actions aimed at this professional category.

摘要：军事人员在绝大多数职业活动中均会暴露于噪声环境。研究目的：明确海军军事活动中与噪声暴露相关的危险因素，并描述由此引发的听力损伤情况。研究方法：在Scopus、Web of Science及SciELO三大文献数据库中开展系统文献综述，检索2007年至2017年间发表的原创性研究论文，并依据考克兰协作网（Cochrane Collaboration）制定的方法学质量评价标准对纳入文献进行分类。研究结果：共检索到47项研究，其中7项符合纳入标准。入选文献结果显示，军事活动会对海军军事人员的听力健康造成不良影响；研究证实，听力损失的发生率随军事服役时长以及作战、舰上执勤等活动时长增加而升高，其患病率随年龄增长与噪声暴露时长增加而上升，且发病特征与噪声类型密切相关。该类听力损失在白人男性中更为高发，主要累及高频听力，且多为感音神经性类型。研究结论：该群体的听力易损性凸显了在军事机构中推行听力保护计划的必要性，以针对该职业群体开展听力监测与预防性干预措施。