Abstract：Objective To study the effect of noise on distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) in pilots, detect the hearing loss early, and provide the reference for the Air Force health service support. Methods The threshold of pure tone audiometry and amplitude of DPOAE were examined in 30 low age flying personnel,7 high age flying personnel and 30 healthy youth with pure tone audiometry and cochlear emission analyzer. Results Hearing loss was mainly at 3~8 kHz in pilots, with hearing loss of high frequency occuring in unilateral ear. With increasing age, the high-frequency hearing loss occurred gradually in bilateral ears. The average levels of pure tone threshold in the 0.5-8 kHz in the low age flying personnel and healthy youth were not significantly different (P＞0.05). The low age flying personnel had lower DPOAE amplitude in the 1 kHz and 6 kHz than the healthy youth, with significant difference between them (t=2.11,P<0.05 and t=2.41,P<0.05). The low age flying personnel had a similar DPOAE amplitude in the 2, 3, 4, 8 kHz to that of healthy youth, with no significant difference between them (P＞0.05). The both abnormal rates of high frequency pure tone audiometry in the low age flying personnel (13.3%) and in the healthy youth (6.7%) were not significantly different (χ2=0.16, P＞0.05). The low age flying personnel had a higher abnormal rate of high frequency DPOAE (33.3%) than the healthy youth (6.7%), with significant tifference between them (χ2=5.10, P<0.05). Conclusions The effect of noise on DPOAE amplitude in the flying personnel is greater than pure tone threshold, and the DPOAE test can detect early the flying personnel with noise-induced hearing loss.
2014, Vol. 25 
