Demographics and hearing loss risk factors, by ambient noise exposure level
| Characteristic | Noise exposure (Leq) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 6217) | <82 dB (n = 1648) | 82–84 dB (n = 2810) | 85–87 dB (n = 1175) | ⩾88 dB (n = 584) | p† | ||||||
| †Pearson’s chi-square comparing the four noise exposure groups. | |||||||||||
| Age (mean (SD)) | 40.8 | 7.2 | 42.7 | 6.1 | 41.0 | 7.1 | 38.3 | 7.6 | 39.5 | 7.6 | <0.0001 |
| African-American (no (%)) | 590 | 9.5 | 89 | 5.4 | 217 | 7.7 | 125 | 10.6 | 159 | 27.2 | <0.0001 |
| Male (no (%)) | 5820 | 93.6 | 1579 | 95.8 | 2604 | 92.7 | 1114 | 94.8 | 523 | 89.6 | <0.0001 |
| Number of hearing tests (mean (SD)) | 10.8 | 2.3 | 10.9 | 2.4 | 10.9 | 2.2 | 10.9 | 2.2 | 10.2 | 2.5 | <0.0001 |
| Risk factors (no (%)) | |||||||||||
| Ear infections | 1633 | 26.3 | 465 | 28.2 | 729 | 25.9 | 286 | 24.3 | 153 | 26.2 | 0.13 |
| Shoot or hunt | 3750 | 60.3 | 1041 | 63.2 | 1641 | 58.4 | 781 | 66.5 | 287 | 49.1 | <0.0001 |
| Noisy hobbies | 2928 | 47.1 | 835 | 50.7 | 1318 | 46.9 | 582 | 49.5 | 193 | 33.0 | <0.0001 |
| Previous noisy job | 3361 | 54.1 | 809 | 49.1 | 1515 | 53.9 | 687 | 58.5 | 350 | 59.9 | <0.0001 |
| History of hearing loss in family | 1410 | 22.7 | 410 | 24.9 | 636 | 22.6 | 253 | 21.5 | 111 | 19.0 | 0.02 |
| Baseline hearing status (mean (SD)) | |||||||||||
| Mean 3K, 4K, 6K (dB) | 25.3 | 17.6 | 28.3 | 18.1 | 25.1 | 17.4 | 23.1 | 17.3 | 22.1 | 16.0 | <0.0001 |