2022 NHCA Annual Virtual Conference

Central Auditory Nervous System Dysfunction (CANSD) can manifest hearing difficulty in the absence of audiometric abnormalities. Effects of jet-fuel exposure to the CANS have been extensively studied in animal models and preliminarily in humans. This study aimed to investigate pure-tone audiometric thresholds, annual noise exposures (ANEs), and modified Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability (mAIAD) responses that may suggest CANSD secondary to jet-fuel and noise exposures. A total of 48 age and sex matched participants were recruited: 24 were Military Bulk Fuel Specialists and 24 were military personnel without jet-fuel exposure. All participants completed the mAIAD, the Noise Exposure Questionnaire, and automated pure-tone air conduction audiometry, speech audiometry, and tympanometry. Results revealed non-significant differences in pure-tone thresholds between groups; consistently and markedly lower mAIAD scores for the jet-fuel group compared to the control group; significantly different ANEs whereby the jet-fuel group had higher noise exposures compared to the control group. Nevertheless, no correlation between mAIAD scores and ANE existed. Overall, the jet-fuel group had lower mAIAD scores, specifically in the speech-in-noise (SIN) subdomain, and higher ANE scores than the controls. Results support that reduced SIN scores are the most prominent mAIAD differentiator between participants who had jet-fuel exposure and the controls.