Brant L J, Fozard J L
Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland 21224.
J Acoust Soc Am. 1990 Aug;88(2):813-20. doi: 10.1121/1.399731.
Hearing thresholds were obtained on 813 adult males (20-95 years) measured at 11 frequencies ranging from 0.125-8 kHz from pure-tone audiograms collected over a 20-year period from 1968 to 1987. Audiograms taken at two to six different ages spanning a maximum observation period of 15 years were obtained for each male belonging to one of seven different age groups (20,30,...,80 years) based on the age of initial observation. The males were participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal study of Aging (BLSA), a multidisciplinary community-based study of normal human aging. Changes in hearing thresholds occurred in all age groups during the 15-year follow-up period. For example, at 0.5 and 8 kHz for combined left and right ears there was an average longitudinal loss of 5.7-7.6 and 5.1-21.1 dB, respectively, for 20-year-olds, 10.0-12.7 and 35.2-53.0 dB for 50-year-olds, and 22.9-48.5 and 69.0-84.5 dB for 80-year-olds. As in results from previous cross-sectional studies, hearing loss in the males 70 years and older is greatest at the highest frequencies. The rate of change for these older males is faster in the speech-range frequencies 0.5-2 kHz than in the higher frequencies, since their hearing has already diminished at the high frequencies.
从1968年至1987年的20年间收集的纯音听力图中，获取了813名成年男性（20 - 95岁）在11个频率（范围从0.125 - 8千赫）下的听力阈值。根据首次观察的年龄，为属于七个不同年龄组（20、30、……、80岁）之一的每位男性获取了在两到六个不同年龄拍摄的听力图，最长观察期为15年。这些男性是巴尔的摩纵向衰老研究（BLSA）的参与者，该研究是一项基于社区的多学科正常人类衰老研究。在15年的随访期内，所有年龄组的听力阈值都发生了变化。例如，对于20岁的人，左右耳合并在0.5千赫和8千赫处，平均纵向听力损失分别为5.7 - 7.6分贝和5.1 - 21.1分贝；对于50岁的人，分别为10.0 - 12.7分贝和35.2 - 53.0分贝；对于80岁的人，分别为22.9 - 48.5分贝和69.0 - 84.5分贝。与之前横断面研究的结果一样，70岁及以上男性的听力损失在最高频率处最为严重。由于这些老年男性在高频处的听力已经下降，他们在语音范围频率0.5 - 2千赫处的变化率比在更高频率处更快。
