ASA 127th Meeting M.I.T. 1994 June 6-10

2pNS4. Effect of the population selected to represent the ``age effect'' component of hearing loss when predicting hearing thresholds for a population using ISO 1999:1990(E).

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.