@article{ref1,
title="Hearing threshold in sport divers: is diving really a hazard for inner ear function?",
journal="Archives of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery",
year="2004",
author="Klingmann, Christoph and Knauth, Michael and Ries, Stefan and Tasman, Abel-Jan",
volume="130",
number="2",
pages="221-225",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of scuba diving on the hearing threshold of sport divers who have no history of excessive noise exposure or of diving-related inner ear damage. DESIGN: Cross-sectional controlled comparison study. SETTING: General sports diving community. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty sport divers with an average of 650 dives each and at least 4 years of diving experience (mean, 10 years) were compared with a control group of 63 nondivers from our hospital staff or patients referred for rhinologic problems or benign tumors of the salivary gland. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: After microscopic otoscopy and tympanometry, we used pure-tone audiometry to measure the hearing threshold for air and bone conduction. The participants were divided into 3 age groups, and the hearing test results for both ears combined were statistically compared. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the hearing thresholds between sport divers and nondivers. CONCLUSIONS: The reduced hearing levels of professional divers found in other studies are probably due to the high noise levels that they have to deal with or may be a result of inner ear accidents.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0886-4470",
doi="10.1001/archotol.130.2.221",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archotol.130.2.221"
}