The effectiveness of the Navy's Hearing Conservation Program

The purposes of this study were to determine the incidence of significant threshold shift (STS) for a large number of Naval fleet personnel, evaluate hearing conservation program (HCP) compliance for a large number of Naval ships, and determine whether two currently used compliance measures are useful means of evaluating HCP effectiveness. Data were collected from 12,492 medical records of 154 ships/submarines regarding STS incidence and follow-up, percent of valid audiograms, and other HCP elements. Data analyses suggested that STS incidence (29%) and follow-up compliance (62%) among fleet personnel may be too high and low, respectively, although audiogram compliance is 80.0 to 92.9%. Also, checklists commonly used to evaluate HCP compliance were not highly correlated with STS incidence. The data support literature recommendations for audiometric data base analyses to evaluate HCP effectiveness and for training for medical officers involved in the HCP. Recommendations and future implications are discussed.