Larry H. Royster
MAE Dept., NC State Univ., Raleigh, NC 27695-7910
Julia Doswell Royster
Environmental Noise Consultants, Inc., Raleigh, NC 27622-0698
In attempting to predict the effectiveness of hearing conservation programs either by studying the changes in the affected populations' hearing thresholds over time or by utilizing the ISO-1999 model, it is critical that the control population adequately represent all of the age-related factors contributing to total hearing loss except on-the-job noise exposure. This paper will briefly review the characteristics of several available ``age effect'' populations including data base B in ISO 1999 and the four NINEP populations. The review will include a comparison, when appropriate, of the hearing characteristics for the ``age effect'' populations presented.