Guidelines for quantification of noise-induced hearing loss in a medicolegal context.

OBJECTIVES Guidelines published in 2000 by the authors are widely used by medical and legal professionals in the UK for diagnosis of noise-induced hearing loss in a medicolegal context. However, they cannot be used for quantification of the noise-induced hearing loss, which is required in most cases. This requirement is addressed. DESIGN A method is developed here to quantify noise-induced hearing loss, thereby overcoming this shortcoming. SETTING Assessment of noise-induced hearing loss in medicolegal cases. PARTICIPANTS A consecutive series of 124 cases of noise-induced hearing loss is used for evaluation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Magnitude of noise-induced hearing loss based on hearing threshold levels averaged over the frequencies 1, 2 and 3 kHz. RESULTS The rationale of the method, practical application and three worked examples are developed. A simpler short-cut method is developed and shown to be equivalent to the full method in most cases. CONCLUSIONS The method offers a practical approach to quantification of noise-induced hearing loss.