An audiometric survey of territorial Army personnel

A cross sectional survey of 581 TA personnel from Wales, the Midlands and Scotland was performed. The aim was to determine their hearing levels, to attempt to relate any degree of noise induced hearing loss detected with military, occupational and leisure noise and to make recommendations to improve the existing Army Hearing Conservation Programme. Each subject answered a questionnaire, had a clinical examination of each ear and pure tone audiometry. The hearing acuity of the TA group as a whole was similar to the regulars in the lower H gradings but there was a worrying number of H4/8 (5.6%) who had not been picked up before on routine screening and would probably have been discharged if they were in the Regular Army.