The impact of hearing impairment and noise-induced hearing injury on quality of life in the active-duty military population: challenges to the study of this issue.

Hasanat Alamgir,Jose A Betancourt,James Henry,Andrew J Senchak,Nicole J Wong,Sharon P Cooper,Caryn A Turner,Tanisha L Hammill,Mark D Packer

doi:10.1186/s40779-016-0082-5

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to 1) summarize the available evidence on the impact of hearing loss on quality of life (QOL) among U.S. active-duty service members, 2) describe the QOL instruments that have been used to quantify the impact of hearing loss on quality of life, 3) examine national population-level secondary databases and report on their utility for studying the impact of hearing loss on QOL among active-duty service members, and 4) provide recommendations for future studies that seek to quantify the impact of hearing loss in this population. There is a lack of literature that addresses the intersection of hearing impairment, the military population, and quality of life measures. For audiological research, U.S. military personnel offer a unique research population, as they are exposed to noise levels and blast environments that are highly unusual in civilian work settings and can serve as a model population for studying the impact on QOL associated with these conditions. Our team recommends conducting a study on the active-duty service member population using a measurement instrument suitable for determining decreases in QOL specifically due to hearing loss.

Highlights

Auditory system disabilities are some of the leading diagnoses among the veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, with tinnitus and hearing loss being the two most prevalent service-connected (SC) disabilities among veterans, both overall and among the new SC disability awards given during fiscal year (FY) 2013 [1]
Future direction and recommendations Given the lack of universal agreement on the definition of Quality of life (QOL), there is no consensus regarding the best method for determining QOL [25]
Disease-specific instruments are better at determining the effects that a specific health condition, illness, or disease has on the various dimensions of QOL, as well as being sensitive enough to detect changes brought on by an intervention

Summary

Introduction

Auditory system disabilities are some of the leading diagnoses among the veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, with tinnitus and hearing loss being the two most prevalent service-connected (SC) disabilities among veterans, both overall and among the new SC disability awards given during fiscal year (FY) 2013 [1]. The economic burden of SC auditory system disabilities, which include tinnitus, hearing loss and impaired hearing, is immense for the Veterans Health Administration (VA), as evidenced by the more than 2.1 million veterans in FY 2013 who received SC auditory system disability compensation [1]. These SC disability awards create an economic burden from the VA’s perspective, and auditory system disabilities. Despite the high number of SC cases involving these auditory conditions, their impact on QOL among U.S active-duty service members (SMs) has not been studied. Alamgir et al Military Medical Research (2016) 3:11 there are numerous challenges to determining the impact on the QOL of active-duty SMs and veterans

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion