[Auditory threshold in professional divers not exposed to noise].

OBJECTIVES

Otologic and audiometric evaluation of professional divers without noise exposure has been carried out to analyze the repercussions of this activity on their hearing.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

A total of 233 professional divers, working in a no noise environment, with an average experience of 9.6 years and 2074 lifetime dives, in a working depth between 10 m and 27 m, average 4.6 hours underwater time were evaluated. This atypical population of divers did not follow any decompression schedule and engaged in diving in a purely empirical and intuitive fashion.

RESULTS

Eighty-nine point two per cent presented symptoms of decompression sickness (DCS). Only 19.7% presented a mean hearing threshold below 20 dB while 73.5% had a mild hearing loss. Significant differences (P < .0001) were found in hearing thresholds at 3, 4, and 6 kHz when hearing thresholds were grouped by years of experience and diver's age. No such increase was found when the sample was grouped by DCS symptoms, vestibular symptoms, number of dives, or patent foramen ovale.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss in professional divers is related to their age and experience, even without a noisy working environment.